Now Available: RTA Episode 11

How-it-Works: The Spotify x JED Impact Award, $50K in Grants to 5 Unpublished Manuscripts

Randy Winston

Apr 22, 2025

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*(top, left to right: Randy Winston, Casey Acierno, Courtney Knowles, Henna Silvennoinen)*

Episode Breakdown

00:00:08 Opportunities for fiction writers

00:02:40 About Spotify and The Jed Foundation

00:04:40 Start of episode

00:07:41 Spotify’s work in audiobooks

00:10:00 Spotify Impact team’s mission

00:11:20 Spotify Impact team’s past partnerships and initiatives

00:14:21 Spotify’s past work with JED

00:19:10 JED’s role in the partnership

00:23:34 Mental health misconceptions writers should be aware of

00:27:12 Recommended resources for better understanding mental health

00:28:31 How writers can participate in the Spotify x JED Impact Award

00:38:57 Spotify x JED Impact Award submission timeline

00:41:14 What we mean when we say mental health in fiction

00:45:47 Why this initiative matters to Spotify, JED, and The Black List

00:49:25 Listener Q&A

Episode 11 Guests: Henna Silvennoinen, Casey Acierno, & Courtney Knowles

Since its launch in 2008, Spotify has revolutionized music listening. Their move into podcasting brought innovation and a new generation of listeners to the medium. In 2022, Spotify took the next leap, entering the fast-growing audiobook market—continuing to shape the future of audio.

Today, more listeners than ever can discover, manage, and enjoy over 100 million tracks, 6.5 million podcast titles, and 350,000 audiobooks a la carte on Spotify. They are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 675 million users, including 263 million subscribers in more than 180 markets.

JED is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. They are partnering with high schools and colleges to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems. JED is equipping teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other. They are encouraging community awareness, understanding, and action for young adult mental health.

Spotify x JED Impact Award Submission Portal

Spotify’s Mental Health Resource Hub for Writers

About the host

Randy Winston is the Creative Director of Fiction at The Black List, and former Director of Writing Programs at The Center for Fiction, where he managed, curated, and directed the production of all writing courses, the illustrious First Novel Prize, the famed Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowship, and the highly-sought Writers Studio membership. Prior to his work at The Center, Winston served as Fiction Editor of Slice Literary Magazine for 6 years and has over 10 years of executive admin experience in higher education. Before his MFA, Randy served as editor-in-chief of, formerly Southern Polytechnic State University, now Kennesaw State University’s, online and print student publication in Marietta, Georgia. He is a 2016 graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing (Fiction) at The New School and sits on the board for Orion Magazine and WriteOn NYC.

About the series

A pillar of our Fiction educational resources, Read The Acknowledgements is a live visual podcast designed for book and writing professionals to share their industry experiences and help give writers a clear picture of the ecosystem that is publishing.

This podcast series exists, in part, to fundraise for writers and literary nonprofits in need. Attendance is free, and we encourage viewers and listeners to make donations to writer support funds such as the Authors League Fund, Hedgebrook, Baldwin for the Arts, and Lampblack's Direct Aid Fund.

Read the Acknowledgments is a subsidiary of The Black List, LLC.