| Podcast Awards | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Most voted for podcast |
| Presented by | Podcast Connect Inc. |
| First awarded | 2005 |
| Official website | http://www.podcastawards.com/ |
The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are an annual set of awards given to the best podcasts as voted by the people. Run by Todd Cochrane of Podcast Connect Inc.[1], the Podcast Awards had over 350,000 people vote for their nominated podcasts in 2006, with nearly 1000 people attending awards ceremony.[2]
Contents |
The initial nominations begins at a set date (November 7th for the 2010 awards) and continues for 15 days. Voters are allowed to nominate a set of shows only once, where in the past they could nominate once a day. Duplicate nominations will be thrown out, as will nominations to more than one sub-category. The entry form asks for the name of the podcast, the podcast url, your name, your email address, and comments. The email address must be valid to receive verification on the vote.[3]
After the 15 days, Podcast Connect and 22 listeners volunteers selected in January will review all the nominations over a 7-10 day period. The podcast must be in an appropriate category, started the show prior to August 1, have more than 8 shows produced, and an RSS feed with enclosures visible on their website. A grading sheet is used in the review. The total number of nominations a podcast receives accounts for only 40% of the grading, with the quality of the website's design (15%), quality of sound (15%), quality of deliverance and show format (10%), and relevance of content (20%) also being considered.[3]
Then the top 10 nominees in each category will be selected for the final voting slate, voting will last for 15 days (in the past, the maximum number of nominees to choice from was 5). Winners of the People's Choice and Best Produced awards cannot win any categories the following year.[3]
Some have criticized the awards, saying they've "outlived their usefulness" after only a few years in existence charging that the awards and their nominees don't represent what people are actually listening to. Only 1 of the award winners in 2006 came from the top 100 most popular iTunes podcasts.[4]
The Podcast Awards consists of 22 categories where the winners are announced during the live streamed ceremony. 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[5] | 2006[6] | 2007[7] | 2008[8] | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People's Choice | This Week in Tech | Mugglecast | Keith and The Girl | Manager Tools | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | Tell 'Em Steve Dave! | 4Player Podcast |
| Best Produced | Daily Source Code | The Signal | Firefly Talk | Totally Rad Show | Best of the Left | Radiolab | Inside the Magic |
| Best Video Podcast | --- | --- | Ask a Ninja | Geek Brief TV | This Week in Tech | TED | This Week In Tech |
| Best Mobile Podcast | --- | Catholic Insider | Praystation Portable | DL.TV | AppSlappy | --- | --- |
| Business | Media Artist Secrets | Manager Tools | Manager Tools | Manager Tools | NPR Planet Money | Career Tools | Planet Money |
| 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 |
| Culture/Arts | --- | Geek Nights with Rym and Scott | This American Life | This American Life | Imprint | Decoder Ring Theatre | This American Life |
| 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 |
| Entertainment | --- | Pottercast | The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack | Mugglecast | Mugglecast | The Fringe Podcast | The Morning Stream |
| Food and Drink | Good Beer Show | Good Beer Show | CoffeeGeek | Grace before meals | Munchcast | BeerDownload | Splendid Table |
| Gaming | Orange Lounge Radio | Podtacular | CAGast | The Instance | 4Player Podcast | 4Player Podcast | 4Player Podcast |
| General | illinoise! | Rosary Army | ShowGirls | Extralife Radio | This American Life | The Survival Podcast | Greetings From Nowhere |
| GLBT | --- | Feast of Fools | Feast of Fools | Feast of Fools | Feast of Fun | Savage Love | Feast of Fun |
| Health/Fitness | MARINA's Walking & Aerobics" | Sex is Fun! | Sex is Fun! | Healthy Catholic | QuackCast | QuackCast | QuackCast |
| Mature | Dawn and Drew Show | Dawn and Drew Show | Keith and the Girl | Distorted View Daily | Adam Carolla Podcast | WTF with Marc Maron | Smodcast |
| Movies/Films | TheForce.net | The Signal | Firefly Talk | The Signal | Spill.com | Doug Loves Movies | Film Sack |
| Podsafe Music | --- | Accident Hash | Catholic Rockers | Catholic Rockers | Irish Celtic Music Podcast | Irish & Celtic Music Podcast | Coverville |
| Political | Free Talk Live | Free Talk Live | Free Talk Live | Free Talk Live | The Young Turks | Free Talk Live | Majority Report |
| Religion Inspiration | Catholic Insider | Daily Breakfast | Daily Breakfast | Daily Breakfast | Reasonable Doubts | Atheist News Podcast | Mormon FAIR-Cast |
| Sports | 1954 and Counting | Fantoo Girls | Phedippidations | SkyDiverGirlsTv | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football | The BS Report | ESPN: Fantasy Focus Football |
| Technology/Science | This Week In Tech | Diggnation | Security Now | This Week in Tech | Security Now | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe | Tech News Today / The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe |
| Travel | Richard Vobes Radio Show | Mouse Tunes | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio | WDW Radio |