This is the second year that the winner and honourable mention for the Sound Walk September Awards walk away with cash. Compared to last year, we were able to double the prize money, to 500 euros for the winner, and 200 euros for the honourable mention.
This, thanks to our supporters, you. Supporting WLC financially really makes a difference, as it helps us to do cover our costs, and to offer cash prizes for the winners of both the SWS and Marŝarto Awards.
If you’re not already, please consider becoming a supporter, today.
For the first time, the public was also able to influence the shortlist; the sound walk with the most votes, not already on the shortlist, is automatically added to the shortlist. This year, that was Soundwalking, Listening and Contested Histories, by Joseph Young.
After our Online Jury went out of their way to extensively review all of this year’s submissions, reducing the competitive field to the shortlist for SWS24, it was up to the SWS Grand Jury to decide on which sound walks were going to top the list, this year.
The heavyweight, competing again this year, was Laura Khan Mitchison, who has won twice before. In 2022, with Ghosthunter N16, and in 2020 with The Texture of Air.
This year, Laura’s pattern of winning every two years was broken, but only just, and we’ll have to wait for her to complete her hat trick. Laura’s submission, Brompton Cemetery Sound & Stories: The Living and Tender Flesh, is this year’s Honourable Mention, with the body of work that makes up Os Andares (The Walks), lead by Marcos PTT González Carballido, taking the top spot.
Congratulations to both!
Besides the cash prize, they’ll also receive a commemorative plaque.
Winner: Os Andares
Os Andares is a series of sound journeys through the Ancares Lucenses, a district in northern Spain, which is noted for its unspoilt landscapes and ecological importance.
A group of theater, documentary film, poetry, and music artists produced six soundwalks in some of the most magical spaces of the Ancares Mountains of Lugo, each written by a different author, blending documentary and fiction to delve deeper into the knowledge of this Biosphere Reserve, its culture, and the feelings of its inhabitants.
Here’s what our grand juror Kim V. Goldsmith had to say about Os Andares:
In a tight field of shortlisted sound walks in English, Os Andares (The Walks) entered by project director and author, Marcos PTT González Carballido, demanded attention not just as a beautifully written, well-produced, multilingual audio story, but for its insights and intent.
It’s an imaginative theatrical series that takes you through the Ancares Lucenses in the Ancares Mountains of Lugo, Galicia in northwestern Spain, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2006. The production in six chapters blends documentary and fiction, drawing you into a rich sonic tapestry of nature, history, culture, and characters (some real, some not). Like where I come from, this is a distinctly rural area, something that sets it apart from the many walks focussing on the oral histories of our cities and surrounds.
In the blog post written for the shortlisted entry, Marcos PTT outlines the issues facing the Ancares Lucenses region, including climate impacts, changing land use, an aging population, and de-population as young people move to the cities. Like many rural regions across the globe, a process of regional revitalisation is underway to reimagine the future of these areas. In this case, it appears to be a mix of ecotourism, organic food production, and the nurturing of local traditions and culture that I imagine become part of a cultural tourism offering. Internationally, there’s a slow-tourism movement underway tapping into more regenerative ways of being a visitor in fragile landscapes and communities. Os Andares provides the visitor, in situ or remotely, a way of doing just that.
But how do you create that initial interest in a place, and an emotional connection to it? The artists behind Os Andares have creatively explored this question. As the narrator, Maria Lado says in the final Greater Lake track: …there are places that do shine with a glow of hope. Places like this, where this co-existence that we choose, proves possible. But of course, someone has to take you up here and transform you… someone has to rewild you.
For many, an experience of the natural world is now supported by technology. Understanding this, Os Andares is underpinned by a well-designed, multi-lingual website providing Galician, Spanish and English audio options. Each track provides clear instructions that directs the imagery you are witness to. You can even do this using VR via YouTube. Sitting in my rural Australian home, 17.600 kilometres from the location of this area of Spain, this is still a multi-sensory experience. While I would have loved more atmospheric field sounds to make my remote travel into the mountains even more immersive, this doesn’t detract from what is a warm, informative, and entertaining collection of walks.
Honourable Mention: Brompton Cemetery Sound & Stories
With Brompton Cemetery Sound & Stories: The Living and Tender Flesh, Laura Khan Mitchison, in co-production and with sound design by Steve Urquhart, uncovers the hidden histories of Londoners who walk, love and dream amid the dead. In her work, people flutter from one state of being into another, like the butterflies and the broken angels around them.
Our grand juror Henna Wang has this to say:
Laura Khan Mitchison’s & Steve Urquhart’s The Living and Tender Flesh is an evocative sound walk that captures the rebellious spirit and wild beauty of Brompton Cemetery. Featuring personal narratives from environmentalists, artists, and consciousness explorers, accompanied by richly layered sound design and music recorded on-site, the piece uncovers hidden stories of those who walk, dream, and resist amid the cemetery’s iconic monuments and natural surroundings. By inviting listeners to choose their own paths, Mitchison and co-producer Steve Urquhart create a deeply personal and reflective experience that celebrates the vibrant interplay between history, community, and place.
What’s next?
We’ve already received our first submissions for SWS25. Sound walks, released on or after January 1, 2024 are eligible for the SWS25 Awards.
What are you making this year? We’re very much looking forward to seeing your work come in! Submit your work, here.
