The awards are a celebration of the podcasting success of publishers and media organisations.
From over 200 entries, say the organisers, and a shortlist of 114 podcasts, the judges marked the podcasts on a range of factors, including production quality, how well the podcast reflected the publisher’s brand, and growth strategy.
The winners:
Best B2B Podcast - Engineering Matters, Reby Media
Best Coronavirus Podcast - The Nature Podcast, Springer Nature
Best Entertainment Podcast - The Penguin Podcast, Penguin Random House
Best Food & Drink Podcast - The Food Programme, BBC Radio 4
Best Health & Wellbeing Podcast - The ECHO’s Menopod, Laudable / Liverpool Echo
Best Hobbies & Special Interest Podcast - The Week in Art, The Art Newspaper Ltd
Best Lifestyle Podcast - We Are Family, Meredith Corporation
Best Limited Series - Floodlines, The Atlantic
Best Local & Community Podcast - Twa Teams, One Street, DC Thomson Media
Best News Podcast - The Week Unwrapped, Dennis Publishing
Best Political Podcast - The New Statesman Podcast, The New Statesman
Best Science & Medical Podcast - Curiosity Daily, Discovery Inc.
Best Sponsored Podcast - olive magazine podcast, Immediate Media
Best Sport Podcast - The Bunkered Golf Podcast, DC Thomson Media
Best Technology Podcast - Engineering Matters, Reby Media
Best Commercial Strategy - Engineering Matters, Reby Media
Best Podcast Launch - New Scientist Weekly, New Scientist
From these 17 category winners, the Media Voices team chose an overall winning podcast. The judges said: “Although it was faced with formidable competition, this podcast was one of the strongest entries we’d seen. It had excellent alignment with the parent brand, and made good use of staff and magazine content throughout. The production values were also flawless, making it a very enjoyable listen.”
Publisher Podcast Of The Year: New Scientist Weekly, New Scientist
Open for nominations for the first time this year was the Publisher Podcast Hero of the Year. This category is designed to celebrate key individuals within the business driving best practice, seeking inspiration, and looking for new opportunities with the format.
“To make such an impact very quickly is brilliant,” they commented. “Not just on her own company’s strategy and output - beyond her simple remit - but showing the leadership and kindness to raise others up.”
Publisher Podcast Hero of the Year: Theodora Louloudis, The Telegraph
The Media Voices team have also announced that they will be launching the Publisher Podcast Summit in 2022, Covid restrictions permitting. The Summit will be held in London during the day before next year’s awards.
Esther Kezia Thorpe, co-founder: “We’re so pleased to have been able to continue with the awards this year, despite Covid. The response has been far better than we expected, and we’re already looking forward to extending with a Summit and an in-person ceremony again next year. It’s been so heartening to see the quality of publisher podcasting increasing despite geographical and technical challenges throughout 2020. Many congratulations to all the shortlisted and winning podcasts.”
Peter Houston, co-founder: “It was disappointing not to be able to repeat last year’s ceremony, it was such a great night. But in a year when people have had so much to deal with, it’s been amazing to be able to bring people together online and celebrate the incredible work that’s been done. The progress in publisher podcasting is very apparent in just 12 months and I can’t wait to interview this year’s winners and share their insights and expertise in our second ‘Lessons’ podcast series.”
Chris Sutcliffe, co-founder: “Over the past year podcasts have provided a lifeline for those of us stuck in lockdown. Whether we spent our time with our favourite pop culture podcasts or staying abreast of the latest industry developments, the deep dive audio format has shone more brightly this past year than ever. That’s reflected in the quality of the shortlists - and the winners - from this year’s awards. We’ve been bowled over by the enthusiasm this year, and can’t wait to see what 2022 holds for publishers’ podcasts.”
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