Eligibility
- Must be a regularly occurring podcast.
- The submitter must be the podcast owner or have the owner’s written permission to enter.
- Minimum of 5 published episodes AND will produce new episodes regularly and consistently in 2025.
- Open to all countries and all languages. However, we request a written transcript for two episodes if the podcast is not in English.
- Must furnish us with a hosting site where we can access all of the episodes.
- Ineligible entries may be disqualified at any competition phase without notification.
Entry Timeline
- We offer a rolling and continual entry. Enter anytime.
- Your winning status will be announced to you within two weeks.
Judging and Why We Are Different
By utilizing a rolling entry system without deadlines, we have established a comprehensive and unbiased evaluation process that considers each submission, ultimately leading to improved and more equitable outcomes. Judges can systematically assess entries instead of being overwhelmed with many submissions simultaneously. This approach ensures that each submission is carefully evaluated, making the evaluation process fairer and more inclusive.
Some podcast awards ask the hosts to submit self-selected audio clips as montages or edited overviews for judging purposes. Some will only listen to 15 minutes of an episode. Other podcast awards allow listeners to vote or nominate. While all of those formats have merit, we want our judges to base their opinions on an experience closest to a real live listener experience. Listener voting has the potential for a podcast to win or place based on how aggressively the podcaster solicits their contacts to cast their votes or nominations. And the average listener does not find self-selected segments or partial listens when they tune in.
To recreate an authentic listening experience, each podcast entry will be judged in the following ways.
- Three of our judges will listen to two episodes of their choice – in their entirety with a 60-minute max.
- Three additional judges will be assigned an episode and will listen to it in its entirety with a 60-minute max.
- While this involves a lot of time, we feel it is the only way to really listen, hear, and ‘get’ the nuances of the podcast.
- All judges evaluate using the same scoring criteria – 10 questions with a ranking of 0-5.
- Your entry is judged solely on its own merit and does not compete with other shows.
- The judges are experienced humans with previous or current jobs within the audio industry. Current resumes include work experience at iHeart Radio, CBS Radio, SiriusXM, Itunes (now Apple), voice coaches, voiceover actors, podcast producers, audio editors, sound engineers, content researchers/creators, and others from over 25 U.S. terrestrial radio stations within the United States. Our judges are also diverse and represent a cross-section of ages, cultural heritage, race, religion, gender, and experience. To mitigate any bias, Pat Rullo is not a judge.
- As much as we are proud of our judges and would like to share them with the world, these people currently work in the audio field and cannot receive solicitations for advice, contacts, syndication requests, or other such conversations. While they are enthusiastic about their judging positions, we must honor their time and/or their employer’s need for privacy.
- Due to the high demand for judges’ time, we will not offer written critiques, comments, or reasons for not winning.
Criteria
Judging will be based on the following aspects:
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Structure
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Technical
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Content
- Creativity
- Preparation
- Sound
- Production
- Engagement
- That unexplainable WOW factor
Entry Fees
Podcasts can enter into a minimum of 1 category, or to increase your Hall of Fame listing exposure and prize rewards, select 2, 4, or up to 6 appropriate categories.
$60 One Category sends five shelter renovation gifts with your name/podcast as the donor
$90 Two Categories sends nine shelter renovation gifts with your name/podcast as the donor
$150 Four Categories sends 15 shelter renovation gifts with your name/podcast as the donor
$200 Six Categories sends 20 shelter renovation gifts with your name/podcast as the donor
