It’s been an eventful year. The world has passed the 1.5 degrees threshold; marine ecosystems are collapsing; global economic growth, when not considering AI, has halted; inequality is skyrocketing, with the elite becoming insanely rich; The death toll in the Russia-Ukraine war might have reached 2 million; Israel is continuing its genocide, even during a ‘ceasefire’, while Darfur is suffering from what appears to be another genocide; Big Tech is tightening the screws, while the US political and economic elite have captured the American state, and try to bully the rest of the world into submission.

The well-known curse “May you live in interesting times” was first uttered by Austen Chamberlain, probably drawing from speeches by his father Joseph Chamberlain. That name rings a bell, because it was Joseph’s younger brother Neville, British Prime Minister at the time, who uttered the immortal phrase “Peace for our time”, in relation to the Munich agreement between the UK, Germany, France, and Italy, 11 months before the invasion of Poland in 1939.

Austen attributed the phrase as an ‘ancient’ Chinese curse, but no such curse exists. Though, we can draw from a Chinese expression with similar sentiment: “Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos”.

We are no dogs in a time of tranquility.

But, we do have the shortlist for the Sound Walk September Awards 2025 for you. Finally, some good news!

The SWS25 shortlist was put together by our wonderful Online Jury, who spent truckloads of time, listening to all of this year’s submission, carefully rating them against a collectively established set of criteria.

The jurors’ individual ratings resulted in a ranked list of this year’s contenders, from which we take the top 12 to make up the shortlist. If any on that list involved creators who are ineligible to win, that is the WLC Team and the members of the SWS Grand Jury, we augment the list by as many pieces. Then, we add one more, the public’s favourite, which is the submission with the most likes/hearts, which is not already on the shortlist.

All this means that this year’s shortlist consists of 14 excellent pieces.

Thankfully, several of them address the challenges and injustices of the world we find ourselves in.

Sound walk

and let no one be forgotten!

Three houses in Berlin stand as silent witnesses to the shifting tides of history. This audiowalk asks: what (and who) remains after empires fall?

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Ascent: A Boulder Soundwalk

Inspired by composer Divya Maus’ relationship to the Rocky Mountains as first an immigrant from Germany, a local, and then a returning visitor, ASCENT is a classical music experience installed in Boulder Colorado’s Scott Carpenter Park that radically increases the accessibility of traditional choral concerts.

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Esercizio Pratico di Meraviglia e Sorpresa

This sound walk, called “Practical Exercise Of Wonder And Surprise – Silence And Listening,” invites people to slow down and really tune in to the sensory world around them.

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Forgotten Stories Of Oxford

A Spoken Word collection which forms a walking tour of central Oxford, offering a glimpse behind the facade of a city whose name is synonymous with global elitism. Tours are available guided by the artist himself, or online via free maps and YouTube.

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Los Pasos de Mama Killa (The Steps of Mother Killa)

The soundwalk “Los Pasos de Mama Killa” (The Steps of Mama Killa) explores the collective meaning of agency at night, presenting the nighttime as a communal and relational space grounded in mutual care. The sound design was developed using sound-augmented reality on the ECHOES platform. This work was created for the Sur Aural Sound Festival in 2024, held in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

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“MOSS – Mapping Otherworldly Soundscapes”

This geolocated soundwalk was commissioned by the 13th edition of the MOMENTUM biennale by the festival. It is an investigation and celebration of sound and an exploration of the relations between the natural and cultural worlds of Moss, Norway.

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Normalised Interfacing

Normalised Interfacing is a wheelchair soundwalk, mapping the experiences and thoughts of a wheelchair user in a new city.

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Sound walk

Onlanden – Thoughts on NO land / Verhalen van Niks

A soundwalk through the nature reserve the Onlanden in the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands

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Rain Cycle

Composed by Divya Maus and performed by 8 singers of the L.A. Choral Lab, RAIN CYCLE is a meditation on the rainy season in Southern California in 4 choral movements and 51 distinct environmental sound “bubbles” produced by human voices.

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SENDwalk

A soundwalk around Peel Park in Little Hulton made by the local SEND children. The walk was debuted at the Spirit of Little Hulton festival.

Sound walk

The First Coast’s Stonington Soundwalk

The Stonington Soundwalk takes the listener on a walk past old sardine factories and music halls, neighborhoods and town piers. It features the stories of local residents, both past and present, recorded and edited by audio producer Galen Koch.

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Where I End & You Begin

A surprising work of immersive theater that time-synchronizes two participants as they travel across MASS MoCA’s expansive galleries and campus. Show-issued equipment tether you wirelessly to one another in this 85-minute, deeply-connective piece.

Public’s favourite

The public’s favourite is the sound walk which received the most hearts/likes and was not already on the shortlist. If you’re not on the shortlist this year, and you’re going to submit your work for next year’s awards, tell your friends to vote for you.

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Hidden Speakers

Binaural recordings of hidden speakers while walking in Japan

Out of competition

The piece below heavily involved one of our founding members, and though selected by the Online Jury as one of this year’s outstanding sound walks, can not go on to become a winner, or honourable mention.

Sound walk

Sins Beneath the Equator

“Sins Beneath the Equator” is a project which deconstructs myths deeply rooted in the Pernambuco and Brazilian imagination, related to the Dutch occupation of the northeast of Brazil, in the 17th century.

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What’s next

The shortlist is now reviewed by the SWS Grand Jury, who will meet to discuss each of the pieces, as well as deciding on the winner and honourable mention.

Concurrently, the creators of each of the shortlisted sound walks are invited to write an article, discussing their work, their process, or both, and these will be published, here, in the coming weeks. Watch this space.

The winner and honourable mention of the Sound Walk September Awards 2025 will be announced around the new year. They will walk away with an award and a cash prize (or, really, a digital money transfer, this is 2025, and we live in interesting times). The winner receives 500 euros, with a cool 200 for the honourable mention. Even for those poor sods living in places like London, Amsterdam, or Dubai, this still will get you a few coffees. If you’re lucky.

The value of our prizes depend on the amount of financial support WLC receives from people like you. We need your support, and hope to push next year’s top prize to 1000 euros.
Help us help you! Support WLC today!

Submissions for SWS26 are open. What are you working on? I hope it’s something that makes our times a little bit less interesting, and more equitable.