The Ambies - the nominees, 2021
This article is at least a year old
The Podcast Academy, the preeminent professional podcast organization, has unveiled the nominees for its inaugural Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies). The Ambies celebrate excellence in podcasting and elevate awareness and status of podcasts as a unique and personal medium for entertainment, information, storytelling and expression. The hour-long ceremony will be streamed LIVE on YouTube, Twitch and other platforms on Sunday, May 16, 2021 from Los Angeles, CA at 5PM PT/8PM ET, with a pre-show starting at 4:30PM PT/7:30PM ET.
The Ambies will highlight 164 nominees across 23 categories, selected by every voting member of The Podcast Academy, in addition to a Governor’s Award. Eligible new members will be able to vote to determine this year’s winners if registered by March 26.
“The Podcast Academy was founded a year ago with the mission to foster inclusivity, elevate awareness and build excitement for podcasts through initiatives, programming and our annual awards,” said Chairman of the Podcast Academy, Donald Albright, President & Co-Founder of Tenderfoot TV. “Today, we celebrate the community with the announcement of our first-ever Ambies nominees. They are just as diverse as the creators, both in front of and behind the mic, and are reflective of the far reaching medium. On behalf of the membership, we congratulate all of the nominees.”
Dirty Diana, The Left Right Game and Wind of Change earned four nominations each, the most for any program.
A variety of podcasts from independent and nonprofit media entities also earned nominations including Adult ISH (YR Media), Borne the Battle (US Department of Veterans Affairs), DEM TIMES (Our Day), DETOURS (WGBH/PRX), On Being with Krista Tippett (On Being Studios), among others.
This year’s slate of inaugural nominees feature activists, award-winners, bestselling authors, luminaries and renowned journalists including: Hillary Rodham Clinton; Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey; NAACP Image Awards-winner Tessa Thompson; Order of Canada recipient Malcolm Gladwell; Back Issue’s multidisciplinary artist Josh Gwynn and Netflix’s Strong Black Legends Tracy Clayton; New York Times bestselling author Patrick Radden Keefe; Forgotten: Women of Juarez’s Peabody Award-winning journalist Oz Woloshyn and public radio journalist Mónica Ortiz Uribe; The Heist’s Pulitzer-winning reporter Mei Fong and award-winning radio journalist Sally Herships; as well as Pulitzer finalist Ear Hustle, co-hosted by Earlonne Woods, a former inmate at San Quentin, and Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, a current inmate.
The full list of nominees
Editor’s note: Podnews has added publisher detail from individual show listings. Just show titles were given by the Ambies; we’ve matched these up to listings ourselves: however, some titles are used by multiple podcasts.
Podcast of The Year
From: Epicleff Originals
Hosted by: Spotify for Creators
Best Business Podcast
From: Harvard Business Review
Best Comedy Podcast
From: Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Hosted by: Simplecast
Best Documentary Podcast
From: Gimlet
Best Entertainment Podcast
- The First One (Amazon Music)
Best Fiction Podcast
Best History Podcast
Best Interview Podcast
From: A Winning Mindset: Lessons From The Paralympics
Hosted by: Audioboom
Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
From: Gimlet
Best News Podcast
From: Pineapple Street Studios, BuzzFeed News
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Original Score and Music Supervision
From: Tenderfoot TV, Double Elvis & Audacy
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: Spotify Studios
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Performer in Audio Fiction
From: National Geographic Kids
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: Spotify Studios
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast
Best Podcast Host
From: iHeartPodcasts and CBS News
Hosted by: Omny Studio
From: Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Politics or Opinion Podcast
Best Production and Sound Design
From: The Washington Post
Hosted by: The Washington Post
From: Gimlet
From: QCODE
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: QCODE
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Reporting
From: NPR
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
Hosted by: PRX
From: Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
From: HBO | Tenderfoot | Raedio
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: National Geographic Kids
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction
From: Gimlet
From: Pineapple Street Studios, BuzzFeed News
Hosted by: Megaphone
From: Pineapple Street Studios / Crooked Media / Spotify
Hosted by: Megaphone
Best Society and Culture Podcast
From: Gimlet
Best Sports Podcast
From: SiriusXM
Best True Crime Podcast
From: The Wheeler Centre
Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast
ABOUT THE PODCAST ACADEMY Founded in February 2020, The Podcast Academy is a non-profit professional membership organization that celebrates excellence in podcasting and elevates awareness of podcasts as an indispensable medium for entertainment, information, and creative expression. It values individual and organizational creators alike, of all backgrounds and means, and defines achievement through the values of quality, creativity, innovation, inclusion, and impact. The Podcast Academy provides community, professional development, and industry connections through inclusive, dynamic programming. For more information about The Podcast Academy, please visit www.thepodcastacademy.com and follow/like/subscribe on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linkedin.
The above list of podcasts is available as an OPML file for your podcast player
This is a press release which we link to from Podnews, our daily newsletter about podcasting and on-demand. We may make small edits for editorial reasons.
Companies mentioned above:
Amazon
National Geographic
NPR
Tenderfoot TV
The Ambies
The Podcast Academy
Twitch
VICE News
YouTube