The best global sports podcasts are crowned as The Sports Podcast Awards holds its first ever awards ceremony

Last night, the podcasting world united to celebrate the first ever Sports Podcast Awards, with hosts James Haskell and Colleen Wolfe handing out 25 awards to the best in the business during a virtual ceremony.

The High Performance Podcast and The Socially Distant Sports Bar were among the winners of the inagural Sports Podcast Awards.

The virtual ceremony, hosted by former England rugby player James Haskell and NFL Network host Colleen Wolfe, saw sports podcast fans from around the world come together to witness 24 podcasts take home 25 trophies in their respective categories.

The biggest award of the night, the ‘Sports Podcast of the Year’, was awarded to the fantastic Morning Kombat from CBS Sports, a widely renowned podcast that covers everything happening in the world of boxing and MMA.

This flagship award was contested by the winners of each category and ultimately chosen by the awards advisory board. Made up of a group of professionals from around the world of podcasting, the board includes British broadcasting legend Gabby Logan who popped up during the show for a chat with Haskell.

Speaking on the awards and judging process, Logan said: “Podcasting is one of the most brilliant ways of broadcasting and the talent on show from our Sports Podcast Awards nominees did not disappoint. With such a democratic process, that allows even creators with limited experience or technical expertise to take their chance, we can hopefully find the next big broadcasters of the future. Roll on next year’s awards!”

Other winners on the night included Sky Sports Golf Podcast, The Rugby Pod and WTF1 Podcast which all won in their respective categories, much to the delight of everyone involved including their listeners. There was yet another win for Sky Sports with Transfer Talk picking up the gong for ‘Best Soccer Podcast’.

Andy Goode, co-host of The Rugby Pod, which took home the trophy for ‘Best Rugby Podcast’, highlighted the importance of having the Sports Podcast Awards saying, “It’s important to recognise the success of sports podcasts and podcasters in their respective fields.”

Also picking up an award in the ‘Best Sports Documentary Podcast’ category was Michael Johnson’s Defiance, a podcast that covers the history of protest in sport and its power to bring about change. Speaking on the win, Michael said: “I’m super excited that we’ve won. Given all that’s been taking place in the world, especially here in the states, it felt like the right time to highlight those people that use their platform in sport to promote change through this podcast.”

“It’s very important since I’ve finished my career to just find things that I can enjoy doing (podcasting), but of course the competitor in me is delighted to pick up the award.”

Another big winner on the night was the TWS Podcast, in the ‘Equality & Social Impact’ category. A show run by autistic students in which recent guests have included Joe Hart, Nasser Hussain and Sir Clive Woodward.

The Sports Podcast Awards features podcasts from global networks such as The Athletic, NBC, Sky Sports, BBC and ESPN along with independent shows, and even bedroom podcasters.

The annual celebration, which honours the work of the very best of the global sports audio community, is brought to you by the company behind the prestigious Sport Industry Awards. After a rigorous judging process from an expert industry jury, a total of 128 podcasts from 13 countries and more than 50 different podcast networks all over the globe made the shortlist. It was then up to the fans to vote for their favourites before the winners were announced.

Speaking on the announcement, Dylan Pugh, Managing Director of Sports Industry Group said: “In our first year, we’ve been blown away by the support of the sports podcast community and would like to extend our congratulations to all the winners of this years awards.

“A massive thank you goes out to every podcast that entered, as well as everyone who listened, shared and voted.

“We’re hugely passionate about boosting discoverability for everyone in the sports podcast community and with the first awards under our belts, we’re excited for what’s to come throughout 2022.”