SPJ Green Eyeshade Awards. Best Student Light Feature, "What's popping at Bryant-Denny Stadium"
“It smells bad. It gets in your hair, and if you don't wash your hair every day, just that odor stays in your hair for the whole week.”
Cecilia Rice
Owner, The Nut Shop
Five tons of popcorn?
Please find attached, Alabama Public Radio’s entry for the SPJ Green Eyeshade Award for Best Light Student feature, “What’s popping at Bryant-Denny Stadium?”
Home college football games at the University of Alabama involve logistics. Fans have to park around campus and find their seats. The teams use buses to make their way to Bryant-Denny Stadium. And, then there’s the food for the one hundred thousand fans. Cheering burns calories and that means trips to the concession stands for stadium dogs and nachos. APR newsroom student intern Emily Ahearn reports on the family owned business that handles one crunchy item on the menu.
Please click here to listen to the feature...
https://www.apr.org/news/2025-11-13/whats-popping-at-bryant-denny-stadium
Ahearn visited The Nut Shop in Tuscaloosa, on “popping day.” The work began with the arrival of a ton of unpopped kernels on a delivery truck bound for the “popping room.” The Nut Shop arranged to supply five tons of popcorn, per season, for Crimson Tide home games. This isn’t the only example of one supplier getting a corner on the snack market at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Ahearn also interviewed Laura McLaughlin, who produced the “Bear Bryant Show,” sponsored by Golden Flake potato chips.
Respectfully submitted.
Cecilia Rice
Owner, The Nut Shop
Five tons of popcorn?
Please find attached, Alabama Public Radio’s entry for the SPJ Green Eyeshade Award for Best Light Student feature, “What’s popping at Bryant-Denny Stadium?”
Home college football games at the University of Alabama involve logistics. Fans have to park around campus and find their seats. The teams use buses to make their way to Bryant-Denny Stadium. And, then there’s the food for the one hundred thousand fans. Cheering burns calories and that means trips to the concession stands for stadium dogs and nachos. APR newsroom student intern Emily Ahearn reports on the family owned business that handles one crunchy item on the menu.
Please click here to listen to the feature...
https://www.apr.org/news/2025-11-13/whats-popping-at-bryant-denny-stadium
Ahearn visited The Nut Shop in Tuscaloosa, on “popping day.” The work began with the arrival of a ton of unpopped kernels on a delivery truck bound for the “popping room.” The Nut Shop arranged to supply five tons of popcorn, per season, for Crimson Tide home games. This isn’t the only example of one supplier getting a corner on the snack market at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Ahearn also interviewed Laura McLaughlin, who produced the “Bear Bryant Show,” sponsored by Golden Flake potato chips.
Respectfully submitted.
APR