Celebrating the arts across all cultures: the podcasts that encourage us to seek out new releases or forgotten classics - through reviews, interviews, discussion.... any or none of the above. 

Outstanding entries in this category will go beyond episode recaps or the typical ‘thumbs up/down’ critiques and give listeners fresh angles on the arts they love, with genuine and passionate presentation.

EXAMPLE TOPICS INCLUDE

• Literature                                            
• Performing arts reviews
• Visual arts reviews
• Music documentaries, review
• Design
• Photography
• TV & Film recaps & interviews
• Food & Drink
• Fashion
  
• Other artistic interests and hobbies
• Arts industries and careers
• Publishing industry
  
• Music industry
  
• Video Games and the video game industry

Not to be confused with our entertainment category, this is for podcasts that aren’t just funny… but have finely crafted jokes inside. From panel shows to parody, improv to sitcoms - and entirely new formats that only podcasts can create - judges have been instructed to reward the podcast that made the jury laugh, not necessarily the one that appealed to everyone. 

EXAMPLE FORMATS INCLUDE

• Panel shows
• Stand-up comedy or live performance
• Parody
• Absurdist humour
• Improvised comedy
• Comedy-fiction

Inspiring the next generation of CEOs, COOs and other acronyms. You could be showcasing stories of great leadership, or helping listeners make every penny count. As with all our categories, we’re looking for shows that reflect the diversity of ideas, backgrounds and industry in our country. 

The best entries will need to be fresh-sounding, personable and inclusive.

EXAMPLE TOPICS INCLUDE

• Marketing & Sponsorship
• Business & Entrepreneurship
• Management & Startups
• PR & Communications
• Wealth & Investing
• Finance & Real Estate
• Women in Business

Recognising the great work being done in sex education and relationship advice; representing a wider variety of sexual experiences than has previously been the case in mainstream media. 

Outstanding entries in this category will have a high standard of research (whether in terms of guests or subject matter) and presentation that confronts taboos in an entertaining and accessible way.

Whether you’re providing a weekly check in for parents everywhere, or something more targeted at a community, we want to hear from shows that tell it like it *really* is, help us overcome those stressful times and give us fresh insights into modern family living. 

Outstanding entries in this category will showcase new formats and treatments you use to tell your parenting stories - or how long-running shows are keeping their presentation fresh and inclusive.

Be it a deep-dive into Indigenous prehistory or a whistle-stop tour of the twentieth century, the Australian Podcast Awards would like to recognise the work being done by the best podcast historians in the country.

Outstanding entries in this category will take care over accuracy and perspective, whilst telling their stories with passion, empathy and relevance.

Maybe you have incisive analysis, exceptional pundits and great access - or perhaps the discussion is merely a sideshow to the blossoming, unspoken romance between your contributors. Regardless, if you have a loyal audience and an entertaining show, you should enter.  

Outstanding entries in this category will be able to demonstrate a fanbase loyal to the podcast beyond the dreams of most sports clubs. Audience size is not a factor: making niche sports accessible to wider audiences would be as valued here as much as any show pegged to a major sporting tournament.

EXAMPLE TOPICS INCLUDE

• Professional, club and amateur sport
• Car racing & automotive
• Aviation
• Fishing
• Sailing
• Surfing
• Cross-fit
• Martial arts
• Rock climbing
• Lawn bowls, bocce
• Hiking
• Other miscellaneous activities and hobbies

Acknowledging the important role podcasts now play in education - whether you’re teaching a language, providing self help courses or improving your industry’s professional skills - in this brand new category for 2022.

Outstanding entries in this category will demonstrate the techniques and production skills needed to teach effectively, and show how their compilation extends to a well structured series of lessons for listeners.

Whether you are a business, news and current affairs show, publishing regular discussion formats or original journalism, we want to hear podcasts that have sought insight into our complex society.  Outstanding entries in this category will find new angles on recent events, beyond the headlines and 24-hour news cycles, retaining relevance with an audience beyond the week they were published.

EXAMPLE TOPICS INCLUDE

• Politics, law and justice
• The media
• Religion and climate change
• Local, global and regional news
• Other matters of political and social interest

Can podcasts save the planet? Sure they can. We think the intimacy and creativity of podcasting makes it perfect for the job. The climate and environmental emergency can be complex, confusing and sometimes a bit of a turn off, but podcasts can touch hearts and minds like nothing else. 

This award is open to specialist shows in any genre - you don’t have to be specifically about climate change every week to qualify. Put in your best work on the subject.

Winners will be able to demonstrate they are changing the conversation. Either through creative, innovative and compelling audio. Or through sustainable production which measures and minimises harm.

Whether it’s original investigations or pure storytelling, judges will be looking for well-researched programs, with evocative storytelling and human stories at its heart.  

Outstanding entries in this category will have crafted a format around the material available, whether that’s archive, original interviews or other techniques, playing with this most established of podcast genres to create something unique.

EXAMPLE TOPICS INCLUDE

• Unsolved murder
• Historical crimes
• Fraud

If you put a spring in your listeners’ step, if you provide toe-tappin’, chin-strokin’, chuckle-inducin’ escapism... you should apply within.  

Outstanding entries in this category will revel in their eclecticism, curating content or features that your subscribers unquestionably consume with open hearts and minds.

EXAMPLE TOPICS INCLUDE

• Celebrity chat
• Music shows
• True storytelling
• Comedian chat

Incorporating interview formats across many topics: from books, to comedy, to health, to human interest. Whether your guests are super famous or just really, really interesting... perhaps they’re edited with a light touch, or cut down to size... either way, we want our judges to discover the finest, most compelling, incisive conversation produced this year.

Unlike most other categories, entries can be one extract from a podcast published (between August 2021 and July 31st 2022), up to 15mins in length.

Documentaries take listeners into new worlds and experiences through real people, places, and events. But it's not just about providing facts, we're interested in how producers weave them into an overall narrative that's compelling as well as truthful.

TYPES OF CONTENT MAY INCLUDE

Narrative non-fiction, Scripted narration, dramatic re-enactment, field recordings and interviews, sophisticated editing and sound design, archival recording and found sounds, live storytelling.

Entries here should improve our understanding of ourselves and the world in an entertaining and accessible way. Whether your style is entertaining trivia or deep dives into very very specific topics, is to make audiences smarter the longer they stay listening, or at least teach them something new.

TYPES OF CONTENT MAY INCLUDE

• General Science, Technology, Religion, Law, Other topics.

Incorporating drama, readings, and ground-breaking new formats for storytelling.  Outstanding entries in this category will incorporate production that suits the story/stories and sound design that acknowledges an audience primarily of headphone users. New writing, new talent, new ways of looking at the world - these will be noted favourably.

For Best Fiction you can submit up to 30mins of audio. This can be in the form of a single piece, or a selection of up to 5 clips. Please also note that you have to have released at least three episodes in the past eighteen months to qualify.

EXAMPLES OF FORMATS INCLUDE

• Audio drama
• Improvised or scripted plays
• Parody
• ‘Movies for your ears' 

We also want to champion the best launch of a show across any genre - if you have managed to start well and keep getting better, tell us how. To qualify, you will have started the podcast - and launched six episodes - since August 2021. 

Outstanding entries in this category will demonstrate the creative potential of the show, through new talent, writing or formats, rather than its current listener reach. Judges will want to label the winner ‘the ones to watch’ and forever claim they were listening from the beginning.’

A suite of awards that reward the best commercial activity, driving new audiences and revenue into our industry.

Sponsored by

Showcasing the best examples of advertiser-funded podcasts, where both the editorial and sponsor’s aims are seamless and beneficial... and, above all, make a great listen.  

Outstanding entries in this category will sound great, demonstrate either added value to the brand’s established consumer base, or reach beyond to new audiences.

The Australian Podcast Awards are looking to celebrate the most innovative advertising campaign of the past year. 

The judges will consider the following:

• Does the campaign bring a great creative idea to life using the unique characteristics of podcasting (eg. subscription based, dynamically targeted, audio-first, loyal listenership)
• Does it demonstrate great craft in terms of writing and production?
• Does it surprise, innovate or push the boundaries of podcast advertising?
• Did it generate a return for the advertiser?

Note: Branded Podcasts should not be entered for this category. See above.

This award will be given to a team that has sold the medium of podcasting well, created great podcast-specific solutions for advertisers and delivered strong revenue. 

We’re particularly interested in teams that have increased podcasting’s share of an advertiser (or agency’s) total media budget. Judges will also be looking for fresh and innovative thinking which has delivered real and tangible results.

As well as showing financial success, we would like to hear about specific examples that really make the Sales Team stand out. This could be a creative approach which introduced a significant new client to the sector, a programme of commercial activity which resulted in an agency changing its attitude to podcasting, or a particular campaign which pushed the boundaries of podcast advertising.

Your submission is a written entry (up to 1000 words) with supporting evidence supplied as a PDF.

This award will be given to the team, or company, that creates great opportunities for clients to advertise on podcasts or supports the creation of branded shows. 

We’re looking for a company that matches their clients’ needs with the right podcast advertising solutions. This could be through creative support, through media planning or by building a holistic strategy for a client or clients. 

This category is for the podcast platforms doing their best to support their podcasters. This could be through innovative policies across a multitude of areas, including:

• advertising deals
• marketing support
• education and development
• outreach and diversity
• industry-leading research
• strategy and leadership in our sector

Your submission is a written entry (up to 1000 words) with supporting evidence supplied as a PDF.

This is for publishers or networks that have a public-facing brand around a slate of shows - original content to which you are the IP owner. Your audio entry should include work from up to five podcasts in single clips, demonstrating the range and quality of content you’re producing. In addition, your written submission should detail your success this year, in whichever ways you define that success.

All of the Special Awards are free to enter for any podcast that has made a submission to the Show Awards listed above.

We want to celebrate the great podcasts being made by First Nations producers and presenters. The podcast can be across any genre, and the nominees will form an essential playlist for all Australians.

To be considered for this award, enter any show category above and use the opt-in tickbox. This category is free to enter.

Sponsored by

Chosen at the discretion of the judges, this award recognises a single piece of audio so creatively dazzling that it deserves its own trophy. That could be the result of great storytelling, sound design, performance, editing… or any combination of the above. 

Just enter any show category above to be considered.

Sponsored by

This is one for the big hitters out there: podcasts with sizable audiences bringing the medium into the mainstream. 

But which of you is the best, according to our judges? Enter any category above and use the opt-in tickbox. 

This category is free to enter for any podcasts exceeding 50,000 plays/streams/downloads per episode after 30 days.

This category honours the podcasts that are producing exceptional listening experiences for niche audiences and those underrepresented in the media. It's a big award for the small shows making a real difference to their communities.

To be considered for this award, enter any category above and use the opt-in tickbox at no extra cost. This category is for independent podcasters with on-average less than 5,000 plays/streams/downloads per episode.

The highest honour of the night, with the winner chosen from the Gold winners of the categories above - so anyone who wins their category has a chance of winning this most prestigious of prizes.

Outstanding entries in this category will have outstanding presentation, original research or writing, appropriately superb sound design and boundary-pushing material that showcases the very best of what Australian podcasting can achieve.