The Australian Podcast Awards (APAs) has announced its contenders for Australia’s best podcasts of 2020, celebrating the best local podcasting content and talent. Recognising the growing on-demand audio industry in Australia, this year’s nominees include over 100 podcasts across 24 categories.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) podcasting network leads the nominations, with seven nominations across five categories including two nominations for hallmark production Coronacast. Leading distributors, Acast, iHeartRADIO, News Corp and PodcastOne Australia each attained multiple nominations respectively.
Local productions Lighthouse, Shameless, Matt & Alex’s All Day Breakfast, My Mum is a Pornstar and What Happens Next? each garnered two nominations. Meanwhile, independent producer The Squiz achieved two nominations for daily news program Squiz Kids in addition to being recognised in the Best Publisher category.
Dave Gertler, founder of the Australian Podcast Awards, said: “There have been many uncertainties and lots of disruption in 2020. Despite these challenges, Australian podcast creators have continued to step it up, producing world class content. Across our 24 categories, the APAs celebrates the achievements of the nominees and the spectacular content they have provided for an ever-growing audience. The award ceremony may look slightly different in November, but we are thrilled to still be able to celebrate the achievements of Australian podcasters and producers.”
Category winners will then be announced at a virtual event on Saturday 21st November at 7.30pm (Syd/Mel). Winners of each category are all then go into the running to be awarded the Podcast of the Year, supported by PodcastOne Australia.
Categories and nominees include:
Moment of the Year supported by Acast
The most impactful, visible, compelling single piece of audio produced this year and exclusive to a Australian podcast.
• Coronacast (Dr Norman Swan and Tegan Taylor for ABC)
• Matt & Alex – All Day Breakfast – Black Lives Matter (PodcastOne Australia)
• Driven Young: Boys vs Girls Experiment Viral Moment (Byron Dempsey)
• Squiz Kids Q+A with Prime Minister Scott Morrison (The Squiz)
• Women of Influence (Kate Meade for ACE Radio)
The Creativity Award supported by iHeart Podcast Network Australia
Chosen at the discretion of the judges, this award recognizes a single piece of audio so creatively dazzling that it deserves its own trophy.
• All Ears (All Ears English)
• From A Whisper To A Bang! (Megan Spencer for the Australian War Memorial)
• The Last Voyage of The Pong Su (The Age and Sydney Morning Herald)
• Science Vs: Pandemic! (Gimlet Media)
• Tony Martin’s SIZZLETOWN (pots n pans productions)
Best New Podcast supported by Acast
• 7AM (Schwartz Media)
• Life Uncut Podcast (Laura Byrne, Brittany Hockley & iHeartPodcast Network Australia)
• Little Green Pod (ABC Regional & Local & ABC Audio Studios)
• Nut Jobs: Cracking California’s Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist (Marc Fennell for Audible)
• Who The Hell is Hamish? (News Corp Australia)
Best Arts and Culture Podcast
• Bad Behavior (Nikila Cranage, Rosalind Anketell, Namcheja Maghembe)
• Beauty Island (Brittany Stewart)
• Eyes on Gilead (Fiona Williams, Natalie Hambly, Sana Qadar, Haidee Ireland and Jeremy Wilmot for SBS )
• Margin Notes (Yen Eriksen and Zoya Patel)
• Talking Words (Olivia O’Flynn & Lucy Hayward)
Best Branded Podcast supported by PodcastOne Australia
• Beyond Blue: Not Alone (Beyond Blue)
• Love & Proud (NAB & JOY 94.9)
• That’s Incredible (Mamamia Podcasts)
• This Girl Can – Victoria (VicHealth)
• What Happens Next? Hosted by Dr Susan Carland (Monash University)
Best Business Podcast supported by Nova Entertainment
• Building A Unicorn (Lawson Media)
• My Millennial Career (symo interactive)
• She’s on the Money (Victoria Devine & iHeartPodcast Network Australia)
• The Richards Report (Ted Richards)
• Women are the Business (University of Melbourne)
Best Comedy Podcast supported by Spotify for Podcasters
• A Rational Fear (Dan Ilic for Downwind Media)
• Dragon Friends (Dragon Friends Podcasting)
• Hamish & Andy (Hamish Blake and Andy Lee for PodcastOne Australia)
• Impromptunes – The Completely Improvised Musical Podcast (Impromptunes)
• Tony Martin’s SIZZLETOWN (pots n pans productions)
Best Current Affairs Podcast supported by Spotify for Podcasters
• 7AM (Schwartz Media)
• Background Briefing (The Background Briefing Team for Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Full Story (The Guardian)
• The Quicky (Mamamia Podcasts)
• What Happens Next? Hosted by Dr Susan Carland (Monash University)
Best Entertainment Podcast supported by Podfollow
• Just The Gist (Rosie Waterland & Jacob Stanley)
• Matt & Alex – All Day Breakfast (Matt & Alex – All Day Breakfast for PodcastOne Australia)
• Shameless (Shameless Media)
• The Convo With George Sargent (George Sargent)
• The Wellness Collective (Natalie Kringoudis and Cecelia Ramsdale)
Best Sports Podcast supported by Whooshkaa
• Dyl and Friends (Dylan Buckley)
• John Tapp Racing (John Tapp)
• Ordineroli Speaking (Neroli Meadows & iHeartPodcast Network Australia)
• The 19th Tee Podcast (Nathan Drudi & Kieran Marsh)
• The Phil Davis Podcast (Phil Davis for ABC)
Best True Crime Podcast supported by Whooshkaa
• CHILDERS – The Full Story (Paul Cochrane)
• Nut Jobs: Cracking California’s Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist (Marc Fennell for Audible)
• The Last Voyage of The Pong Su (The Age)
• The Lighthouse (The Australian)
• Unravel True Crime: Snowball (ABC Audio Studios)