Winners announced for the 2023 Audio Production Awards

Above: Anishka Sharma, Producer of the Year

The 2023 Audio Production Awards, sponsored by Audible, were held at a gala event on Wednesday 22 November at the BFI on London’s South Bank. Nish Kumar & Coco Khan, presenters of weekly British political comedy podcast, Pod Save the UK, were this year’s hosts.

The APAs, organised by AudioUK (the trade body providing business support and growth to professionals making podcasts, radio and audiobooks), celebrate outstanding achievement in audio production across a huge range of audio content including; podcasts, audiobooks, sound design, radio, presenting and more.

This year’s winners include Jack Suddaby (Beautiful Strangers), who won gold for Best Arts & Culture Producer, silver for Best Lifestyle & Society Producer, and three bronze awards for his podcast Time & Again. The highly competitive Best Factual Producer award went to Joe Kent (BBC News Long Form Audio) for his work on the narrative podcast The Shamima Begum Story.

The Sustainability Award went to Talia Randall for her BBC Sounds podcast, Blossom Trees & Burnt Out Cars, commissioned as part of the inaugural BBC Sounds Audio Lab Scheme. Audio newcomer Kwesia, aka City Girl in Nature, was awarded Best New Voice for Peanut & Crumb’s Get Birding podcast Season 3, and Becky Green (Audio Always) took home the gold for Best New Producer.

Anishka Sharma was crowned Producer of the Year, Overcoat Media was named Production Company of the Year, and Resonance won Publisher or Network of the Year for the consecutive year. The AudioUK Award was presented to Reform Radio for their outstanding work and contribution to the Manchester audio community, and wider UK audio industry.

Chloe Straw, Managing Director of AudioUK, said:

“This is my third year at the awards as Managing Director of AudioUK, and it is great to see them change and grow each time.

It has been a challenging year in the audio industry and the wider world, and the awards gave us the opportunity to take a breath to celebrate the incredible talent that we see in the UK, across the many strands of podcasting, radio, audiobooks and sound design.

The awards celebrate those right across the industry, and audio reaches far and wide: we have seen winners from production businesses, from freelancers, from platforms, from brands, from the BBC, from publishers. I am delighted that we get to bring all areas of the industry together, this really is a unique event.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners, I am so pleased that we get to put on this show every year to celebrate you all, your talent and your productions.

Thank you to our headline sponsor Audible, who work with us every year to put the awards on, to Amazon Music and Wondery for partnering with us on the Pay What You Can Scheme again, and to the Entry Level Audio Network, who partnered with us on the pre-show mixer, for people who are new to the industry or who were coming alone.

Thank you to all of our key sponsors: BBC Sounds; BetterHelp; In:Quality; Morley Radio; The Podcast Show; Sue Terry Voices; United Voices; and whynow Media. And thank you to our media partners: Community Media Association, Content Is Queen, Creative Mentor Network, Disruptive Talent Group, Earworm, North Media Talent, Pineapple Audio Production, Pod Bible, Podfollow, Podium.me, Podnews, Podomedy, PodPod, Pospike, RadioToday, Reel2Media, SRA, Sport Social Podcast Network, The Radio Academy and WIZZFX. Partnerships are so important in the growth of the audio industry, and it has been a pleasure working with you all.

Finally thank you to the team behind the awards - all of the excellent judges; Chair of Judges Joby Waldman; EDI consultant Yassine Senghor; Executive Producer Sophie Cantopher, Lead Producer Katie Banham.

See you again next year!”

Audio Production Awards Winners 2023

Best New Producer sponsored by BBC Sounds

• GOLD - Becky Green - Audio Always
• SILVER - Silvia Malnati - Reduced Listening
• BRONZE - Tess Davidson - Freelance
• HIGHLY COMMENDED: Sam Tyler - There Are No Greater Heroes
• Nominees: Jill Achineku - Whistledown, Talia Augustidis - Broccoli Productions/Freelance

Best Factual Producer

• GOLD - Joe Kent - BBC News Long Form Audio
• SILVER - Arlie Adlington - Overcoat Media
• BRONZE - Phoebe McIndoe - Falling Tree Productions
• Nominees: Anishka Sharma, Dan Tierney - BBC Audio North, Scarlett O’Malley - Little Cactus

Best Entertainment Producer

• GOLD - David Manero - Listen
• SILVER - Amy Johnson - BBC Radio 1
• BRONZE - Kay Hutchison - Belle Media
• Nominees: James Payne - Folding Pocket, Lucy Hunt - Listen, Matt Thomas - Audio Always

Best Arts & Culture Producer

• GOLD - Jack Suddaby - Beautiful Strangers
• SILVER - Peter Curran - The Foghorn Company
• BRONZE - Geoff Bird - Freelance
• Nominees: Becca Bryers - BBC Audio, Michael Umney, Natalie Steed - Rhubarb Rhubarb

Best Lifestyle & Society Producer sponsored by BetterHelp

• GOLD - Sylvie Carlos - Freelance
• SILVER - Jack Suddaby - Beautiful Strangers
• BRONZE - Bea Duncan - Broccoli Productions
• Nominees: Beth Madden - Prison Radio Association , Ruth Abrahams - The Guardian, Ryan Winders - This Is Distorted

This award is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life would be so much easier if it came with a user manual. Producing a podcast would be, too. When things feel difficult, BetterHelp is an accessible and affordable option for therapy. With nearly 35,000 therapists and over 3 million people served worldwide, they know a thing or two about helping people navigate life. BetterHelp is proud to be the leading global podcast advertiser, and to support the Audio Production Awards here in the UK.

Best Audiobook Producer sponsored by Sue Terry Voices

• GOLD - Laura-Leigh Smith - String & Tins
• SILVER - Jessica Beck - The Guardian
• BRONZE - Caroline Raphael - Dora Productions
• Nominees: Christopher Thompson - Penguin Random House, Lily Ridett - Freelance/Penguin Random House, Nathan Freeman - Granny Eats Wolf

Best Drama & Fiction Producer

• GOLD - Nicolas Jackson - Afónica
• SILVER - Anishka Sharma
• BRONZE - Rooks Nest - Algorithms
• Nominees: David Beck - Wireless Theatre Company, Jack Bowman, Nicholas Newton - Promenade Productions

Best Narrator sponsored by United Voices

• GOLD - Eva Feiler - Almost Tangible
• SILVER - Kristin Atherton - HarperCollins Publishers
• BRONZE - Natasha Miller - Miller Libertine
• HIGHLY COMMENDED - Oliver Jeffers - HarperCollins Publishers
• Nominees: Kerry Godliman - Wondery, Paapa Essiedu - Audible Studios

Best Ensemble Cast

• GOLD - Betty Glover, Christian Hewgill & Greg James - The Fast and the Curious
• SILVER - William Hanson and Jordan North - Help I Sexted My Boss
• BRONZE - The Ensemble Cast of Bess Loves Porgy
• Nominees: Coco Khan and Nish Kumar - Pod Save the UK, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders - Titting About, The Kurupt FM Podkast - series 3' (Audible)

Best Presenter sponsored by Morley Radio

• GOLD - Catherine Carr - Loftus Media
• SILVER - Jack Saunders - Listen
• BRONZE - James Grasby - National Trust
• Nominees: Justin Dealey - BBC Three Counties Radio, Niall Paterson - Sky News, Scarlett O’Malley - Freelance/Little Cactus

Morley Radio, a proud sponsor of the Best Presenter award, is delighted to present a one-year residency opportunity, tailor-made for the passionate individuals who have submitted their work in this category. Morley Radio is committed to fostering the growth of individuals deeply passionate about the radio and podcasting industries.

Best New Voice sponsored by BBC Sounds

• GOLD - Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature - Peanut & Crumb
• SILVER - Ali Ali - Prison Radio Association
• BRONZE - Aggie Chambré - Politico/Whistledown
• Nominees: Coco Khan - Reduced Listening, Natasha Miller - Miller Libertine, Phoebe McIndoe - Falling Tree Productions

Best Branded Content Producer

• GOLD - Daniel Prior - Absolute Radio Network
• SILVER - Adam Venton - Little Monster Media
• BRONZE - Natalie Steed - Rhubarb Rhubarb
• Nominees: Arthur Hagues - Prison Radio Association, Geoff Bird, James Stodd - Greatest Hits Radio

Best Music Producer

• GOLD - Katie Callin - Reduced Listening
• SILVER - Tom Whalley
• BRONZE - Silas Gray
• Nominees: Bradley Duggan - Listen, Gabriel Francis - Reduced Listening, Shreni Yajnik - Listen

Best Comedy Producer (Gethin Thomas Award)

• GOLD - Joe Fraser - Baby Cow
• SILVER - Simon Nicholls - Freelance
• BRONZE - Jon Holmes - unusual
• HIGHLY COMMENDED - Lyndsay Fenner - Mighty Bunny
• Nominees: Lance Dann - Rezilience, Matt Thomas - Audio Always

Best News & Current Affairs Producer

• GOLD - James Tindale - Whistledown
• SILVER - James Shield - The Times and The Sunday Times
• BRONZE - Alex Bishop - Reduced Listening
• Nominees: Rebecca Kesby - CTVC, Ruth Abrahams - The Guardian, Will Roe - The Times and The Sunday Times

Best Sports Producer sponsored by In:Quality

• GOLD - Abi Paterson - The Athletic
• SILVER - Matt Tasker - Audio Always
• BRONZE - Justin Dealey - BBC Three Counties Radio
• Nominees: Adonis Pratsides - The Athleti, Katie Sayer - unusual/Pozzitive, Sarah Stolarz - Chalk + Blade

Best Sound Design Producer

• GOLD - John Wakefield - Hat Trick
• SILVER - Emma Barnaby
• BRONZE - Jack Suddaby - Beautiful Strangers
• HIGHLY COMMENDED - Nicholas Alexander - Novel
• Nominees: Jon Holmes & Tony Churnside - unusual; Jon Nicholls - Almost Tangible

AudioUK Award

• Reform Radio

The Amazon Music & Wondery Grassroots Production Awards

• GOLD – Made by Mortals - Armchair Adventures
• SILVER - Transmission Roundhouse Podcast Academy
• BRONZE - Jack Suddaby - Time & Again
• Nominees: Behear, Multitrack, Prison Radio Association

The Sustainability Award

• GOLD - Talia Randall - Blossom Trees & Burnt Out Cars
• SILVER - Sarah Craig - Toughie
• BRONZE - BCG & Lower Street - Climate Vision 2050
• Nominees: Dirty Films & Story Hunter - Climate of Change Season 2, Eloise Stevens - Sustainability Acupuncture, Whistledown - Our Broken Planet

Publisher or Network of the Year sponsored by The Podcast Show

• GOLD - Resonance
• SILVER - Wondery
• BRONZE - BBC Asian Network
• HIGHLY COMMENDED - Podimo
• Nominees: Audible, The Economist Podcasts

Producer of the Year sponsored by Audible

• GOLD - Anishka Sharma
• SILVER - Ruth Abrahams - The Guardian & Whistledown
• BRONZE - Jack Suddaby - Beautiful Strangers
• Nominees: Bea Duncan - Broccoli Productions, Katie Callin - Reduced Listening, Steven Rajam - Overcoat Media

Production Company of the Year sponsored by whynow Media

• GOLD - Overcoat Media
• SILVER - Prison Radio Association
• BRONZE - Fresh Air
• Nominees: Audible Studios UK, Reduced Listening, TellTale