We are thrilled to announce that Hub & Spoke’s podcast Rumble Strip, created and produced by Erica Heilman, has won a Peabody Award for the episode “Finn and the Bell.”
The award was announced June 9, 2022, in an online video presented by actor and podcaster Adam Scott, known for his roles in the television series Parks and Recreation and Severance.
“Finn and the Bell” is the story of a small community struggling to respond to the 2020 suicide of Finn Rooney, a 17-year-old boy who had become an inspiring and unifying figure to many people in his hometown of Hardwick, Vermont. Heilman spoke with Finn’s friends, coaches, and teachers, and his mother, Tara Reese, to find out what made Finn such an extraordinary person, and how the tragedy of his death has begun to alter the fabric of community life in Hardwick in unexpected ways.
Rumble Strip was the only podcast not supported by a major network, studio, or station to secure a Peabody nomination or award this year. The Peabody Awards—which recognize accomplishments in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, and public service across television, podcasts/radio, and the Web—were established in 1938 by the National Association of Broadcasters and are presented by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. For many media creators, they are considered the ultimate career honor—the broadcast and streaming media industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.
“I’m stunned and excited,” Heilman says. “It’s a rare occasion when a major award recognizes the work of an independent producer with a staff of…one. But these ‘staffs of one’ are the origin story of podcasting. For years, podcasts were made in closets and living rooms for the sheer, obsessive love of making them. And they are beautiful and eccentric and have their own particular sound. Hub & Spoke, a collective of independent podcasts making this kind of strange and singular and heartfelt work, has been the perfect home for Rumble Strip since 2019, and I am so encouraged to see the Peabody organization recognize what we do.”
“Finn and the Bell” has been featured on Vermont Public Radio as well as Transom’s HowSound podcast with Rob Rosenthal. After re-airing a different Rumble Strip episode as part of his podcast 99% Invisible, host Roman Mars asserted that “Finn and the Bell” is “probably in contention for the best audio documentary I’ve ever heard.”
Heilman says she is still working to understand the full impact of Finn Rooney’s life and death. “It’s remarkable how far this story has spread and how many people have come to know this extraordinary young man,” she says. “Throughout the edit, I kept thinking that if I worked hard enough, if I could just get it ‘right,’ that I could change the outcome of the story. As illogical as this might sound, I never stopped feeling this way. I still can’t believe that I will never get to meet Finn. But I am so grateful that we all get to know something about the way that he lived, and the way his community mourned him. I also must say that this story would not have been possible without the stage managing, logistical support, and transcendent insights of Finn’s mother, Tara Reese.”
Working with Reese and Vermont-based theater producer Rose Friedman, Heilman recently co-founded The Civic Standard, a nonprofit organization devoted to boosting and reinventing civic culture in the Hardwick area—whether that takes the form of Bingo with live jazz, a free soup event, or a theater in an empty Hardwick storefront. “Finn was a kid who cared deeply about his town,” Erica writes on the organization’s About page. “He wanted to go to a bonfire where everyone was welcome and everyone came. I think that’s what we all want.”
The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors sifted through more than 1,300 submissions to nominate “Finn and the Bell” in April as one of 60 stories from 2021 “that reflect contemporary issues of pressing importance, advocate for change, and education and entertain across genres and platforms.” Heilman’s episode was one of 30 award winners, including NPR’s Throughline podcast, which was also recognized in the Podcasts/Radio category for its series “Afghanistan: The Center of the World.”
The winners were named during a three-day virtual celebration from June 6 to June 9, with videos appearing on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and the Peabody Awards website.