In the short amount of time that the MQ2 gates were open, we received nominations for 234 individuals from virtually every region in the United States and from seven countries. Of these nominees, our talent committee selected 30 to submit proposals, and in February 2009, we announced those chosen to receive funding for their projects.

 

Jenny Asarnow [Grantee]
Seattle, WA 

2009 MQ2 grantee Jenny Asarnow is an assistant producer for KUOW and a program coordinator and host for Hollow Earth Radio. She is also the producer of a series of documentaries about public spaces in Seattle.

 

 

 

Jacob Brancasi [Grantee]
New Orleans, LA

2009 MQ2 grantee Jacob Brancasi is a radio documentarian who co-created, with Heather Booth, a sound-map of New Orleans, Open Sound New Orleans. He is also a violinist and an editor at an advertising agency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyi Howell [Grantee]
Los Angeles, CA

2009 MQ2 grantee Anyi Howell is a public radio reporter for programs such as "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." He performs comedy as King Anyi Howell and is a Youth Radio alum. 

 

 

 

 

 

Anita Johnson [Grantee]
Antelope, CA

2009 MQ2 grantee Anita Johnson is a former Youth Radio reporter and is currently a sound engineer-producer at KPFA. She is also currently producing a documentary film with Freedom Archives, a San Francisco-based organization that restores and archives audiotapes from the late-'60s to the mid-'90s that chronicle the progressive history of national and international solidarity movements.

 

 

 

 

Queena Kim [Grantee]
Los Angeles, CA
2009

MQ2 grantee Queena Kim has been a producer for KPCC's Off-Ramp. She formerly produced KPCC's experimental show "Pacific Drift" and was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. In 2010, Queena became the Community Editor for the Bay Citizen.

 

 

 

 

Kara Oehler [Grantee]
Somerville, MA

2009 MQ2 grantee Kara Oehler is an award-winning producer for programs including "Weekend America" and "Hearing Voices," among others. Her recent project, One Thing, was produced for traditional radio and redefined as a multi-channel, radio-transmitted sound installation for free103point9.

 

 

 

Lu Olkowski [Grantee]
Brooklyn, NY

2009 MQ2 grantee Lu Olkowski is a contributing producer for "Radio Lab," Studio 360, "This American Life," and "Weekend America." She was previously a creative director for Nickelodeon.

 

 

 

Shea Shackelford [Grantee]
Washington, DC 

2009 MQ2 grantee Shea Shackelford has produced for "Day to Day" and "Weekend America." He is a co-creator of the Big Shed podcast; a regular producer-in-residence at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies; and a youth media coordinator at the Latin American Youth Center's Art + Media House.

 

 

 

The list of runners up is here and you can read the full list of 30 finalists in the pilot round of MQ2 here.