Avani Yaltho's podcast, The Things We Buried , begins with the trill of a wooden flute. The haunting sound propels the listener on a trip into the past, set in motion by her first line:

"My grandmother says mango trees used to belong to everyone."

Her narrative takes listeners to the villages of Kerala, a state at the southern tip of India, where Avani's grandparents grew up. Her story explores the things that have disappeared over decades of urbanization and globalization in India.

Our judges found it so moving that they chose The Things We Buried , from the nearly 2,000 entries we received, as this year's grand prize winner for high school in NPR's Student Podcast Challenge.

"It was a beautiful exploration of what can be lost over time," said B.A. Parker, a host of NPR's Code

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