# Podcast Awards

The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are global awards given annually to the best podcasts as voted by the general public. Founded in 2005 by Todd Cochrane of Podcast Connect Inc., the Podcast Awards changed hands for a short period by New Media Expo in September 2014 until New Media Expo's demise. The first Podcast Awards show was held in 2006 (awarding shows for the 2005 calendar year) had over 350,000 people vote for their nominated podcasts, with nearly 1000 people attending the awards ceremony. The 10th annual Podcast Awards Show, the first show run exclusively by the New Media Expo, took place at Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino on April 14, 2015. It was hosted by Chris Jericho and Emily Morse. The 12th Annual event started with a complete site rebuild and change to the overall process.

## Rules

The nominations begin on a set date (July 1, 2017 for the 2017 awards) and continue for thirty days. Listeners can nominate shows from 20 categories over the 30 day period once a day. Podcasts have had to pre-register in order to participate and listeners are allowed to select the shows they want to nominate from within the pre-registered list of shows.
After the thirty days of nominations, Podcast Connect Committee will review all the nominations over a 15 day period and a slate announced.
Once up to ten nominees in each category have been established, the final voting slate is released. Voting in this round are selected by a panel of judges as outlined in the podcast awards rule.

## Categories and winners

The Podcast Awards consists of twenty-two categories. Winners are announced during a ceremony which includes a live web stream. The prizes awarded to winners are donation/sponsor-driven via PayPal. In 2009, they were able to award podcasters almost $3,500 in prizes, with additional website exposure through 2009–2010 of seventeen million plus hits.
| Categories | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2015† |
| People's Choice | This Week in Tech | MuggleCast | Keith and The Girl | Manager Tools | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | Tell 'Em Steve Dave! | 4Player Podcast | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | The Morning Stream | Rob Has a Podcast |
| Best Produced | Daily Source Code | The Signal | Firefly Talk | Totally Rad Show | Best of the Left | Radiolab | Inside the Magic | Best of the Left | Rob Has a Podcast | Radiolab |
| Best Video Podcast | — | — | Ask a Ninja | Geek Brief TV | This Week in Tech | TED | This Week In Tech | The Young Turks | Rob Has a Podcast | Night Attack |
| Best Mobile Podcast | — | Catholic Insider | Xbox 360 | DL.TV | AppSlappy | — | — | — | — | — |
| Arts | — | Geek Nights with Rym and Scott | This American Life | This American Life | Imprint | Decoder Ring Theatre | This American Life | The Moth | This American Life | This American Life |
| Business | Media Artist Secrets | Manager Tools | Manager Tools | Manager Tools | Planet Money | Career Tools | Planet Money | Manager Tools | NPR: Planet Money Podcast | Freakonomics Radio |
| Comedy | Distorted View Daily | Distorted View Daily | Nobody Likes Onions | You Look Nice Today | Daily Giz Wiz | Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! | WTF with Marc Maron | WTF with Marc Maron | The Morning Stream | The Morning Stream |
| Education | Tips from the Top Floor | Tips from the Top Floor | Grammar Girl | Grammar Girl | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe | The History of Rome | Stuff You Missed in History | Grammar Girl | Grammar Girl | Hardcore History |
| Entertainment | — | Pottercast | The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack | MuggleCast | MuggleCast | The Fringe Podcast | The Morning Stream | Rob Has a Podcast | Walking Dead 'Cast | Rob Has a Podcast |
| Food and Drink | Good Beer Show | Good Beer Show | CoffeeGeek | Grace before meals | Munchcast | BeerDownload | The Splendid Table | The Beerists | The Beerists | The Alton Browncast |
| Games & Hobbies | Orange Lounge Radio | Podtacular | CAGcast | The Instance | 4Player Podcast | 4Player Podcast | 4Player Podcast | Rooster Teeth Podcast | Rooster Teeth Podcast | The Instance |
| General | illinoise! | Rosary Army | ShowGirls | Extralife Radio | This American Life | The Survival Podcast | Greetings From Nowhere | Internet Box | Internet Box | Internet Box |
| LGBTQ | — | Feast of Fools | Feast of Fools | Feast of Fools | Feast of Fun | Savage Love | Feast of Fun | Throwing Shade | Throwing Shade | Psychobabble / Throwing Shade |
| Health | MARINA's Walking & Aerobics" | Sex is Fun! | Sex is Fun! | Healthy Catholic | QuackCast | QuackCast | QuackCast | The Mental Illness Happy Hour | The Fat Burning Man | The Dr. Drew Podcast |
| Mature | Dawn and Drew Show | Dawn and Drew Show | Keith and the Girl | Distorted View Daily | Adam Carolla Podcast | WTF with Marc Maron | SModcast | Savage Lovecast | Savage Lovecast | Night Attack |
| Music | — | Accident Hash | Catholic Rockers | Catholic Rockers | Irish Celtic Music Podcast | Irish & Celtic Music Podcast | Coverville | Coverville | Coverville | Coverville |
| News & Politics | Free Talk Live | Free Talk Live | Free Talk Live | Free Talk Live | The Young Turks | Free Talk Live | The Majority Report | The Majority Report | The Majority Report | The Majority Report |
| Religion & Spirituality | Catholic Insider | Daily Breakfast | Daily Breakfast | Daily Breakfast | Reasonable Doubts | Atheist News Podcast | Mormon FAIR-Cast | Ardent Atheist with Emery Emery | Mormon FAIR-Cast | The Scathing Atheist |
| Science & Medicine* | — | — | — | — | — | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe | Radiolab | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe |
| Sports & Recreation | 1954 and Counting | Fantoo Girls | Phedippidations | SkyDiverGirlsTv | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | The B.S. Report | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Baseball | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football |
| Technology* | This Week In Tech | Diggnation | Security Now | This Week in Tech | Security Now | This Week In Tech | Tech News Today | The Audacity to Podcast | Tech News Today | Daily Tech News Show |
| Travel | Richard Vobes Radio Show | Mouse Tunes | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio |
| TV & Film* | TheForce.net | The Signal | Firefly Talk | The Signal | Spill.com | Doug Loves Movies | Film Sack | Spill.com | Film Sack | Film Sack |
†The Podcast Awards were not held in 2014. *Prior to 2010, Science and Technology were combined as one category.
| Categories | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2024 |
| People's Choice | The Fantasy Footballers | The Fantasy Footballers | The Fantasy Footballers | The Fantasy Footballers | How Did I Get Here? | Let’s Get Haunted |
| Arts | The Beerist Podcast | We Like Drinking | We Like Drinking | Dads Drinking Bourbon | Dads Drinking Bourbon | Comic Book Club News |
| Asian Hosted | | | | | | CHECK YOUR HEAD: Mental Help for Musicians |
| Black Hosted | | | | | | 2 Nerds In A Pod: A Video Game Podcast |
| Business | The Bizarre Briefing | Dreamers Podcast | Extraordinary Women Radio | Big Girl Money | Wickedly Smart Women | — |
| Comedy | Matt and Mattinglys Ice Cream Social | Plumbing the Death Star | 2 Girls on a Bench | Spitballers Podcast | Spitballers Podcast | And That's Why We Drink |
| Education | Scam School | Grammar Girl | Our Fake History | Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls | Curiosity Daily | — |
| Entertainment | We Have Concerns | We're Drunk & We Know Things | We're Drunk & We Know Things | We're Drunk & We Know Things | How Did I Get Here? | Baby Mamas No Drama |
| Female Hosted | | | | | | Let’s Get Haunted |
| Games & Hobbies | The Angry Chicken | Trivial Warfare | Trivial Warfare | The Reasons I'm Broke | Things I Got Wong at Trivia | 2 Nerds In A Pod: A Video Game Podcast |
| Government & Organizations | Politics Politics Politics | Everyday Superhumans | Democracy Works | The Impact | Outrage+Optimism! | — |
| Health | Sleep with Me | Optimal Living Daily | A Better Night's Sleep | Mental - The Podcast to Destigmatise Mental Health | Mental - The Podcast to Destigmatise Mental Health | Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads |
| Hosted in Spanish | | | | | | El Flow Segunda Temporada |
| Kids & Family | Hypothetical Help | What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Cool Facts About Animals | Mommies Tell All | Fairy Tales with Granny MacDuff | Didn't I Just Feed You |
| LGBTQ | Diary of a Trans Woman | Derek and Romaine | Derek and Romaine | If These Ovaries Could Talk | Derek and Romaine | The Queer Family Podcast |
| Male Hosted | | | | | | MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries |
| Mature | JuRY | Between Us Girls | Turn Me On | — | — | — |
| Music | Joe and Meg's Musical Adventure | Irish & Celtic Music Podcast | The Modern Vinyl Podcast | Switched on Pop | Kpop Daebak w/ Eric Nam | — |
| Politics & News | No Agenda | The Majority Report with Sam Seder | Consider This | Today Explained | True Crime DEADLINE | Vibes Only |
| Podcast Listening Platform | | | | | | Spotify |
| Religion & Spirituality | Oh No Ross and Carrie | Five Minute Devotions | For the Love with Jen Hatmaker | Better Work Bitch! | Better Work Bitch! | — |
| Science & Medicine* | Weird Things | STEM-Talk | Curiosity Daily | STEM-Talk | DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast | ADHD Mums |
| Society – Culture | The Phileas Club | Sword and Scale | Travel Oddities | The Brain Candy Podcast | Once Upon a Crime | — |
| Sports | The Fantasy Footballers | The Fantasy Footballers | The Fantasy Footballers | 30 for 30 Podcasts | The Fantasy Footballers | Fantasy Football Today |
| Storyteller & Drama | — | — | — | Real Life Real Crime | Crime Junkie | — |
| Technology* | Hak5 | School of Podcasting | Why'd You Push That Button? | Why'd You Push That Button? | School of Podcasting | Women In STEM Podcast |
| TV & Film* | Post Show Recaps | The Hollywood Outsider | Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. Podcast | Ellen on the Go | Commit or Quit | 80s TV Ladies |
Podcast awards are awarded for the previous calendar year. For example, the 2014 awards ceremony took place on April 14, 2015.

### One-time awards

* 2005 – Music/Radio: Coverville
* 2005 – Nonenglish: Annik Rubens: Schlaflos in München
* 2005 – Top Rated: Slice of SciFi
* 2005 – World News: Kathleen Keating
* 2006 – Best Podcast directory: Apple iTunes

## Criticism

Some critics have complained that the Podcast Awards lack publicity, which results in the same podcasts winning awards every year. While some podcasters are aware of the awards and mobilize their listeners to vote, many do not realize they exist.