Published September 3, 2026
BY OLIVIA FORT
Carmel High School student Violet Maxinoski was named one of seven national winners in NPR’s 2026 Student Podcast Challenge, a contest which drew more than 700 submissions from students across the country, earning top honors for her submission, “The Journal,” which explored her mother’s experiences in the Army.
Maxinoski produced the podcast as her final project for AP English Language and Composition, taught by Shelley Grahl, who served as her sponsor for the contest. Maxinoski’s win marks the first national title for Carmel High, which has submitted entries since 2021 and previously earned one honorable mention.
“Violet was my only student who entered the contest this year,” explains Grahl. “She worked so hard on it, and because it was such a personal project, she put a lot of heart and time into it.”
Sgt. Sandi Maxinoski in 2002, shortly before serving in Mosul during the 2003–04 Iraq War. Courtesy of VIOLET MAXINOSKI
The annual contest invites middle and high school students nationwide to produce original, nonfiction audio stories between three and eight minutes, judging them on reporting, writing and production quality.
The senior’s eight-minute podcast focuses on handwritten journal entries kept by her mom, Sgt. Sandi Maxinoski, during her 2003-04 deployment in Mosul, Iraq. Violet wrote a script, interviewed her mother at home and incorporated guitar background music, played by Sandi.
“I really wanted it to be personal,” Violet says. “And I realized I wanted to delve deeper into my mom’s time in the Army.”
The recording begins with imagery from Sandi’s journal, describing a young girl in Mosul who “learns the sound of motors before she learns the Arabic alphabet.” Violet chose to begin with the narrative to show the stark difference between life in a war zone and life in the United States.
Sandi and Violet Maxinoski, whose discussions about Sandi’s military service in Iraq developed into Violet’s NPR‑winning podcast, reflect on themes of freedom and choice. Courtesy of VIOLET MAXINOSKI
Sandi originally kept her journal as a way to process her experiences overseas. After returning home, she transcribed the entries and submitted them to the National Endowment for the Arts’ where one of her original songs, “In the Hanger,” was published in “Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan and the Home Front in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families.”
“It was fun to reflect back on it all with Violet,” Sandi explains. “It helped me even more just to talk about it.”
Throughout the recording, themes of choice and freedom become clear focuses, drawing from Sandi’s reflections on living in a war zone and returning to the United States. In some ways, the project made Violet more aware of freedoms she previously took for granted—an awareness she says will stay with her long after the contest.
