Audience Engagement Digital Publishing
3 mins read

2021’s Publisher Podcast Awards winners, and a new podcasting conference for 2022

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Media Voices have revealed the winners of 2021’s Publisher Podcast Awards, following a virtual ceremony which took place yesterday evening.

The awards are a celebration of the podcasting success of publishers and media organisations, whether they’ve been in the podcasting space a while, or have just launched their very first episode.

From over 200 entries and an exceptionally strong 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.

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.

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.

The judges chose a winner from an impressive calibre of nominees. “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

Publisher Podcast Summit 2022:

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.

The agenda will be packed with insights from the best in the podcasting industry, on everything from how to launch a podcast to what it takes to put together a sustainable commercial strategy.

Esther Kezia Thorpe, co-founder said: “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 said: “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, added: “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.”

Entries for the Publisher Podcast Awards 2022 will open this coming September. Publishers interested in entering can subscribe to updates at https://publisherpodcastawards.com