$5,000 Grant Winner: Heath Druzin Wins Røde Creator of the Year For Podcasting
Don’t shy away from funding opportunities, even a long shot.
Happy New Year! 🎉
What better way to kick off 2026 than with a grant win?
Success stories aren’t just feel-good moments, they’re proof of what’s possible when the right opportunity meets the right creator at the right time.
They pull back the curtain on what actually happens behind the scenes: how opportunities are identified, how decisions are made, and how funding can quietly transform our creative careers.
Today’s spotlight is on Heath Druzin, a journalist and podcaster who won the 2025 RØDE Creator of the Year Award for Podcasting — an opportunity first discovered through Grants For Creators. Yay!!!
Before diving in, let’s give Heath a well-deserved round of applause.👏🏽
Keep reading to learn what made this opportunity worth pursuing and the lessons other creators can take from this win.
Tell us about yourself and your creative work.
I’m a journalist and podcaster.
Lately my work has mostly been long-form narrative podcasts.
My Extremely American series looks at the intersection of extremist movements and mainstream politics. As you can imagine, there’s been a lot to report on recently.
I also report on environmental issues and my latest podcast season, Howl, is all about wolves and the people who love and hate them.
2. What grant did you win, and what do you plan to accomplish with the funds?
I won the Røde Creator of the Year Award for podcasting. The award included $5,000.
I’m an independent producer, and my projects are mostly grant-funded.
That means I’m always hustling for funding, so getting a little extra, like this, gives me a little more cushion to continue my reporting while I’m still raising funds for the next project.
Which, by the way, is the third season of Extremely American - so if anyone out there knows someone interested in funding deep, on-the-ground reporting about extremism, send them my way!
3. What made you decide to apply for this grant?
I saw it on Grants For Creators and thought, “I’m not sure anyone has the on-the-ground sound that I got for Howl. Could be a good fit for a company that makes the equipment for sound-rich audio.” And the chance for prize money didn’t hurt, of course.
4. What about this grant felt like the right fit for you — the theme, timing, mission, or something else?
I was getting a lot of feedback about how cool Howl sounded and it had come out pretty recently, so the timing was really good. And I use Røde mics.
5. After winning this grant, what shifted for you? How will you approach funding opportunities moving forward?
My projects are expensive, travel-intensive, months-long endeavors, so $5,000 in and of itself doesn’t shift much. But, winning it and getting that recognition gives me some confidence for future applications, and it’s always good to have a winning application to refer back to in order to see what worked.
5. How has Grants For Creators helped you with finding funding opportunities?
Grants For Creators has opened up a ton of funding opportunities that I just wouldn’t have known about, including this award. Fundraising is so time intensive. It makes a huge difference to have a shortcut when it comes to finding potential sources.
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6. What’s one thing you wish you had known earlier about applying for grants?
To be very targeted, but also have confidence if your project seems to fit a big, competitive award. Don’t apply to everything: you have limited time, but don’t shy away from a long shot here and there if you think it sounds like your work fits the profile.
In the comments below, share with us your big takeaways from this interview, and what you’re most excited for in 2026.
Feeling inspired? Read other success stories in this series!
P.S. If you won a grant you found from this newsletter, please let us know!
We’d love to feature you in this ongoing series. Email Danielle Desir Corbett at grantsforcreators@gmail.com with the subject line: “I won a grant.”
YAYYY!! Huge congrats!🎉 👏🏽🙌