Ben Calhoun's 'Patriot Games' wins at Third Coast

Congratulations to This American Life producer Ben Calhoun, whose story Patriot Games won the Bronze Award at the 2011 Third Coast Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. Produced for our midterm election episode This Party Sucks, Ben's story focused on Rich Carlson and Tom Swenor, two best friends in Michigan whose decision to form a Tea Party chapter would end up dramatically changing their lives.

Ben was in good company in the awards. Our buddies at RadioLab took home the Silver with a story called Finding Emilie. And the trio of Nick Van Der Kolk, Brenden Baker and Nick Williams snagged the Gold with The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt, a documentary/music hybrid about a guy who runs a strip club out of his Detroit home. That story ran on Van Der Kolk's podcast Love + Radio. Congrats all around.