Welcome Audio Enthusiasts!

This is the home of the Hear Now Festival, year-round audio theater focused programming, and juried awards dedicated to the advancement of audio arts.  

These include the Hear Learn workshops, the Norman Corwin Award, and Hear Now Palooza, an annual competition celebrating all things audio..

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Click here to see the 2022 Corwin Award Inductees!

The 2023 Hear Now Palooza!

Formerly known as Podcast Palooza, this is NATF’s juried competition for recorded sound works. Showcase your audio fiction and theatre, sound art, and two new categories: audiobooks and game audio. Entries will be evaluated by our esteemed judges and all qualifying productions will be featured on the NATF website in 2023. Productions receiving special recognition will be certified Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze.  

 

Thank you to all who submitted their wonderful work to Hear Now Palooza 2023!
AND NOW for the Judges’ decisions:
(Partial list shown below.  CLICK HERE for all the awards!)

THE AUDIO THEATRE CATEGORY

Platinum Awardees:                                       

    • All Hail the Erlkoenig
    • Muffy Drake Adieu…
    • Open Question
    • South – A Nautical Musical
    • Submitted for Your Approval
    • Uncharted: The Hidden Kingdom
    • Under Dead Water
    • We’re Alive

Gold Awardees:

  • Add Subtract
  • Antonia’s Homefront
  • Hill and Dale
  • It Came From Within the Icebox
  • Outgrowth
  • Talq Boat – Presented by Muffy Drake
  • The Loyalists
  • The Pan Am Podcast, Episode 17:  Tenerlife Airport Disaster
  • The Storm Chasers
  • Three Viewings

THE AUDIO BOOK CATEGORY

Platinum Awardees:

    • 813 – Arsene Lupin Series, Book 4
    • Cirque du Lys Winter Showcase from the novel Obedience

 

Gold Awardees:

  • Fatal Floss
  • Her Bridegroom Bought
  • New Arcadia: Revolution
  • The Return of the Soldier

THE GAMING AUDIO CATEGORY

Silver Awardees:

Ambition: A Minuet in Power

Sonic Realms

About Us

The National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc. inspires, educates, promotes, and celebrates storytelling through sound. We endeavor to make the artform accessible to anyone who is passionate about it. Formerly the Midwest Radio Theatre Workshop, we are a fully qualified 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation based in Missouri.

About NATF

Learn more about
who we are and
what we do.

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About Hear Now

Be part of the preeminent audio theatre festival in the United States.

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Our History

Gain exposure to over 30 years of workshops, performances, & conferences.

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Meet the Team

Get to know the NATF team, as well as the talented artists who work with us.

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Highlights

The National Audio Theatre Festivals, Inc. inspires, educates, promotes, and celebrates storytelling through sound. We endeavor to make the artform accessible to anyone who is passionate about it. Formerly the Midwest Radio Theatre Workshop, we are a fully qualified 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation based in Missouri.

The Corwin Award

Every year, the Norman Corwin committee of the NATF bestows an award in his honor to a person or group who has made an outstanding contribution to American radio drama.

Hear Now Workshops

Our dedication to educational opportunities in the audio arts includes instruction in basic production as well as more advanced topics such as sound design, directing for audio, game audio and script writing.

Hear Now Palooza

NATF’s juried competition for recorded sound works.
Podcasts, Audio Fiction and Theatre, Sound Art, and two new categories: Audiobooks and Game audio.

Donate Today

Become a patron of the NATF. All donations directly finance our programming and preservation of our history.
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Work With Us

Interested in volunteering with us or submitting a workshop or panel idea? Please get in touch! We also offer for-credit internships for college students.

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Become a Sponsor

If you’re a company or organization in the audio production space, we’d love to partner with you.

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