PODCAST ACADEMY ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR 
THIRD ANNUAL AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN AUDIO

“Bone Valley,” “Direct Deposit,” “Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis,” “Last Known Position,” “Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till Mobley,” and “Moriarty” Lead with 3 Nominations Each

Emmy Award Winner and Podcaster Larry Wilmore to Host the Ambies

Ceremony will be streamed LIVE on Amazon Music Channel on Twitch from the
International Theater in Las Vegas from 6-7:30 p.m. PST

 

LOS ANGELES, CA, JANUARY 23, 2023—The Podcast Academy, the preeminent professional podcast organization, has announced the nominees for its third annual Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies). The Ambies will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning producer, writer, comedian, actor and podcast host Larry Wilmore on March 7. The ceremony will be streamed LIVE on Amazon Music Channel on Twitch from the International Theater in Las Vegas from 6-7:30 p.m. PST. 

The Ambies celebrate excellence in podcasting and elevate awareness and status of podcasts as a unique and personal medium for entertainment, information, storytelling and expression. The ceremony will highlight 185 nominees across 26 categories with winners to be selected by every voting member of The Podcast Academy (TPA) — in addition to a Governors Award. Community Building Sponsor Wondery will highlight TPA’s Mentorship Program at the Ceremony. Eligible new members will be able to vote to determine this year’s winners if applications are submitted by February 1. More information may be found at www.thepodcastacademy.com/join-the-community.

Nominee Highlights for the 2023 Awards for Excellence in Audio:

  • “Bone Valley,” “Direct Deposit,” “Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis,” “Last Known Position,” “Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till Mobley,” and “Moriarty” lead with 3 nominations each.

  • First time nominees include Anderson Cooper, Cecily Strong, Cole Sprouse, Eric Austin, JB Smoove, Rory Culkin, Sarah Yarkin, among many others.

  • 75% of nominees feature a host or performer who is a person of color and/or female.

  • There was a 21% increase in submissions year-over-year.

  • The Podcast Academy introduced a new category: Best DIY Podcast.

THE AMBIES 2023 FULL LIST OF NOMINEES:

Podcast of The Year (Sponsored by Tenderfoot TV)

  • Chameleon: Wild Boys

  • Design Matters with Debbie Millman

  • Direct Deposit

  • Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis

  • Gay Pride & Prejudice

  • Moriarty

  • Pink Card

  • Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till Mobley

  • The Outlaw Ocean Podcast

  • The Prince 

Best Business Podcast:

  • An Arm and a Leg

  • Business Wars

  • Lead Balloon - Public Relations, Marketing and Strategic Communications Stories

  • The Heist Season 2: The Wealth Vortex

  • The New Way We Work, featuring 4-part Ambition Diaries mini series

  • What's Your Problem? with Jacob Goldstein

  • Work Check

Best Comedy Podcast:

  • Funny Cuz it's True

  • I Love a Lifetime Movie

  • Scam Goddess

  • Summer In Argyle

  • The fckry with Leslie Jones and Lenny Marcus

  • Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

  • Why Won't You Date Me? with Nicole Byer

Best DIY Podcast:

  • Allyship is a Verb

  • Poetry for All podcast

  • Proud Stutter

  • Queer News

  • Stitch Please

  • Teddy Goes to the USSR

  • They Knew Which Way to Run

Best Documentary Podcast:

  • Bone Valley

  • Collapse: Disaster in Surfside

  • Finding Tamika

  • I Will Not Grow Old here (short series)

  • Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary

  • The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment

  • We Were Three

Best Entertainment Podcast (Sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter):

  • Even the Rich

  • MUBI Podcast

  • Object of Sound

  • Pop Paranormal

  • Queue Points

  • Reality with The King

  • Scamfluencers

Best Fiction Podcast

  • Birds of Empire

  • Bone, Marry, Bury

  • Jane Anonymous

  • Last Known Position

  • Moriarty

  • Newts!

  • The Big Lie

 Best History Podcast:

  • Against The Odds

  • Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis

  • History Daily

  • One Year: 1986

  • Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till Mobley

  • Slow Burn: Roe v. Wade

  • SNAFU with Ed Helms

Best Indie Podcast (Sponsored by Stitcher):

  • Blind Landing

  • Ghosthoney's Dream Machine

  • Imaginary Worlds

  • In Those Genes Podcast

  • Inner West Icons

  • SOL Affirmations with Karega & Felicia

  • The Nocturnists

Best Interview Podcast:

  • 9 to 5ish with theSkimm

  • Design Matters with Debbie Millman

  • Direct Deposit

  • Rethinking with Adam Grant

  • The Assignment with Audie Cornish

  • The Lede

  • Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast:

  • Climate of Change

  • In Machines We Trust

  • IRL: Online Life is Real Life

  • Ted Radio Hour

  • Threshold

  • Unexplainable

  • Why It Matters

Best News Podcast:

  • Collapse: Disaster in Surfside

  • Foundering: The Amazon Story

  • Imperfect Paradise: The Sheriff

  • Post Reports

  • Ukrainecast

  • VICE News Reports

  • What Next

Best Original Score and Music Supervision:

  • Culpable Podcast – Dirt Poor Robins, Dayton Cole

  • Disgraceland – Jake Brennan, Matt Beaudoin, Ryan Spraker, Bryce Kanzer

  • Fed Up – Scott Velasquez

  • Gay Pride & Prejudice – Chris Ryan, Jonathon Roberts, Liz Fulton

  • Kabul Falling – Arson Fahim

  • Last Known Position – Deron Johnson, David Levita

  • Spark & Fire – Ryan Holladay and Hil Jaeger

Best Performance in Audio Fiction

  • #Matter – Amin Joseph

  • Borrasca (Season 2) – Cole Sprouse, Sarah Yarkin

  • Dark Sanctum – Bethany Joy Lenz, Clive Standen, Michael O'Neill

  • Moriarty – Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Phil LaMarr, Lindsay Whisler

  • Outliers – Rory Culkin

  • The Madness of Chartrulean – Aud Andrews

  • The Story Pirates Podcast – Cecily Strong, Eric Austin 

 

Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast:

  • A Slight Change of Plans

  • Allyship is a Verb

  • Back From Broken

  • How God Works

  • How To Be A Better Human

  • In the Arena with Leah Smart

  • The Mel Robbins Podcast

Best Podcast for Kids:

  • A Kids Book About: The Podcast

  • Forever Ago

  • Million Bazillion

  • Pinkalicious & Peterrific

  • Smash Boom Best

  • Tai Asks Why

  • The Arthur Podcast

Best Podcast Host or Hosts:

  • Anderson Cooper – All There is with Anderson Cooper

  • Casey Wilson – Fed Up

  • Chad Sanders – Direct Deposit

  • Gilbert King, Kelsey Decker – Bone Valley

  • Heather McGhee – The Sum of Us

  • JB Smoove – Funny My Way

  • Leah Wright Rigueur – Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till Mobley

Best Politics or Opinion Podcast:

  • Crossing The Line

  • It's Political with Althia Raj

  • Post Reports

  • Strict Scrutiny

  • Teaching Texas

  • The Prince

  • The State of: Women

Best Production and Sound Design 

  • Batman: The Audio Adventures – Chris Gibney, Julie Larson

  • Birds of Empire – Randy Torres, Ben Milchev, Ryan Walsh, David Tatasciore, Gabe Burch, Neely Oeftering

  • Cupid – Randy Torres, Ben Milchev, Ryan Walsh, David Tatasciore, Sarah Ma, Neely Oeftering

  • Maejor Frequency – Audio Up and Audible

  • Marvel's Wastelanders: Doom – Mark Henry Phillips

  • The Big Burn – E. Scott Kelly

  • Twenty Thousand Hertz – Defacto Sound

Best Reporting:

  • Bone Valley – Gilbert King, Kelsey Decker

  • Chameleon: Scam Likely – Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

  • Conviction: The Disappearance of Nuseiba Hasan – Habiba Nosheen

  • Taking on Putin – John Sweeney

  • The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment – Patrick Abboud

  • The Outlaw Ocean Podcast – Ian Urbina

  • Who Killed Daphne? – Stephen Grey

Best Scriptwriting, Fiction:

  • American Hostage – C.D. Carpenter

  • I Hear Fear – Jenny Deiker Restivo, Nathalie Chicha

  • Impact Winter – Travis Beacham

  • Last Known Position – Luke Passmore

  • Power Trip – Mary Hamilton, Cara Horner

  • The End Up – Will Weggel, Danny Luber

  • The Story Pirates Podcast – Minhdzuy Khorami, Mike Cabellon, Meghan O’Neill, Peter McNerney, Lee Overtree, Rachel Wenitsky, Ned Riseley, Mahayla Laurence, Alexis Simpson

Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction:

  • 12 Years That Shook the World – Erin Harper

  • Chameleon: Wild Boys – Sam Mullins

  • Death of an Artist – Helen Molesworth

  • Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez – Erick Galindo, Alejandro Mendoza

  • Into America – Trymaine Lee, Aisha Turner, Isabel Angell, Max Jacobs, Josh Sirotiak

  • MUBI Podcast – Rico Gagliano

  • We Were Three – Nancy Updike

Best Society and Culture Podcast:

  • Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis

  • Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez

  • In Those Genes Podcast

  • Into America

  • Love Right Now

  • The Sum of Us

  • Truth Be Told

Best Sports Podcast:

  • Choosing Sides: F1

  • Deep Left Field

  • Pink Card

  • Sports History This Week

  • The Lead

  • The Longest Game

  • Torched

Best True Crime Podcast

  • Conviction: The Disappearance of Nuseiba Hasan

  • Dateline: Missing in America

  • Death of an Artist

  • Queen of the Con

  • The Paddlefish Caviar Heist

  • Up and Vanished- The Trial of Ryan Duke

  • Wrongful Conviction

Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast:

  • Are You Sleeping?

  • Back From Broken

  • Chiquis and Chill

  • Come As You Are

  • Dear Headspace

  • Navigating Narcissism

  • Room 5

NOMINATIONS BREAKDOWN BY PODCAST

  • #MATTER – 1 

  • 12 Years That Shook the World – 1 

  • 9 to 5ish with theSkimm – 1

  • A Kids Book About: The Podcast  – 1

  • A Slight Change of Plans – 1

  • Against The Odds – 1

  • All There is with Anderson Cooper – 1 

  • Allyship is a Verb – 2

  • American Hostage  – 1

  • An Arm and a Leg – 1

  • Are You Sleeping?' – 1

  • Back From Broken – 2

  • Batman: The Audio Adventures – 1

  • Birds of Empire – 2 

  • Blind Landing – 1

  • Bone Valley – 3

  • Bone, Marry, Bury – 1

  • Borrasca (Season 2) – 1

  • Business Wars – 1

  • Chameleon: Scam Likely – 1

  • Chameleon: Wild Boys – 2

  • Chiquis and Chill – 1 

  • Choosing Sides: F1 – 1

  • Climate of Change – 1

  • Collapse : Disaster in Surfside – 2

  • Come As You Are – 1

  • Conviction: The Disappearance of Nuseiba Hasan – 2

  • Crossing The Line – 1

  • Culpable Podcast – 1

  • Cupid – 1

  • Dark Sanctum – 1

  • Dateline: Missing in America – 1 

  • Dear Headspace – 1 

  • Death of an Artist – 2

  • Deep Left Field – 1

  • Design Matters with Debbie Millman – 2

  • Direct Deposit – 3

  • Disgraceland – 1 

  • Even the Rich – 1 

  • Fed Up – 2

  • Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis – 3

  • Finding Tamika – 1

  • Forever Ago – 1

  • Foundering: The Amazon Story – 1

  • Funny Cuz it's True – 1

  • Funny My Way – 1

  • Gay Pride & Prejudice – 2

  • Ghosthoney's Dream Machine – 1 

  • History Daily – 1

  • How God Works – 1

  • How To Be A Better Human – 1

  • I Hear Fear – 1

  • I Love a Lifetime Movie – 1

  • I Will Not Grow Old Here (short series) – 1 

  • Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez  – 2

  • Imaginary Worlds – 1

  • Impact Winter – 1 

  • Imperfect Paradise: The Forgotten Revolutionary – 1

  • Imperfect Paradise: The Sheriff  – 1 

  • In Machines We Trust – 1 

  • In the Arena with Leah Smart – 1 

  • In Those Genes Podcast – 2 

  • Inner West Icons – 1

  • Into America – 2 

  • IRL: Online Life is Real Life – 1 

  • It's Political with Althia Raj – 1 

  • Jane Anonymous – 1 

  • Kabul Falling – 1 

  • Last Known Position – 3

  • Lead Balloon - Public Relations, Marketing and Strategic Communications Stories  – 1

  • Love Right Now – 1 

  • Maejor Frequency – 1 

  • Marvel's Wastelanders: Doom – 1

  • Million Bazillion – 1

  • Moriarty – 3

  • MUBI Podcast – 2

  • Navigating Narcissism – 1

  • Newts! – 1

  • Object of Sound – 1

  • One Year: 1986 – 1 

  • Outliers – 1 

  • Pink Card – 2

  • Pinkalicious & Peterrific – 1 

  • Poetry for All – 1

  • Pop Paranormal – 1 

  • Post Reports – 2 

  • Power Trip – 1 

  • Proud Stutter – 1 

  • Queen of the Con – 1 

  • Queer News – 1 

  • Queue Points – 1

  • Reality with The King – 1 

  • Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till Mobley – 3

  • Rethinking – 1

  • Room 5 – 1 

  • Scam Goddess – 1 

  • Scamfluencers – 1 

  • Slow Burn: Roe v. Wade – 1 

  • Smash Boom Best – 1 

  • SNAFU with Ed Helms – 1 

  • SOL Affirmations with Karega & Felicia – 1 

  • Spark & Fire – 1 

  • Sports History This Week – 1 

  • Stitch Please – 1 

  • Strict Scrutiny – 1 

  • Summer In Argyle – 1 

  • Tai Asks Why – 1 

  • Taking on Putin – 1 

  • Teaching Texas – 1 

  • Ted Radio Hour – 1 

  • Teddy Goes to the USSR – 1 

  • The Arthur Podcast – 1 

  • The Assignment with Audie Cornish – 1

  • The Big Burn – 1

  • The Big Lie – 1 

  • The End Up – 1 

  • The fckry with Leslie Jones and Lenny Marcus – 1 

  • The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment – 2 

  • The Heist Season 2: The Wealth Vortex – 1 

  • The Lead – 1 

  • The Lede – 1 

  • The Longest Game – 1 

  • The Madness of Chartrulean – 1 

  • The Mel Robbins Podcast – 1 

  • The New Way We Work, featuring 4-part Ambition Diaries mini series – 1 

  • The Nocturnists – 1 

  • The Outlaw Ocean Podcast – 2 

  • The Paddlefish Caviar Heist – 1 

  • The Prince – 2

  • The State of: Women – 1

  • The Story Pirates Podcast – 2 

  • The Sum of Us – 2 

  • They Knew Which Way to Run – 1 

  • Threshold – 1 

  • Torched – 1 

  • Truth Be Told – 1 

  • Twenty Thousand Hertz – 1 

  • Ukrainecast – 1 

  • Unexplainable – 1 

  • Up and Vanished- The Trial of Ryan Duke – 1 

  • VICE News Reports – 1 

  • Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! – 1 

  • We Were Three – 2 

  • What Next – 1 

  • What's Your Problem? with Jacob Goldstein – 1 

  • Who Killed Daphne? – 1 

  • Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast – 1 

  • Why It Matters – 1 

  • Why Won't You Date Me? with Nicole Byer – 1 

  • Work Check – 1 

  • Wrongful Conviction – 1 

NOMINATIONS BREAKDOWN BY DISTRIBUTOR(S)

  • Atlassian, Pacific Content – 1 

  • A Kids Co. – 1

  • A+E Networks Podcasts – 2

  • ABC News – 3

  • APM Studios – 2

  • Apoorva Dixit, Molly Mulroy, Quinn Mulroy – 1

  • Audible – 13

  • Audible Originals, Audio Up – 1

  • Auricle Productions – 1

  • AYR Media, iHeartPodcasts – 1

  • BBC – 1

  • Black Love Inc – 1

  • Blind Landing/Ari Saperstein – 1

  • Bloomberg – 1

  • Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment – 3

  • CBC Podcasts – 1

  • CBC Podcasts and the L.A. Times – 2

  • Center for Public Integrity and Transmitter Media – 1

  • Chalk + Blade, Black Dog Woof! Woof! – 1

  • Chris Angel Murphy, MSW – 2

  • CNN Audio – 2

  • Colorado Public Radio – 2

  • Council on Foreign Relations – 1

  • Crooked Media – 1

  • Dateline NBC – 1 

  • David DeSteno and PRX – 1

  • Dear Media & RomComPods – 1

  • Defacto Sound – 1 

  • Design Matters Media, Inc. – 2

  • Double Elvis – 1 

  • E3 Radio – 1

  • Emily Silverman – 1

  • Eric Molinsky – 1

  • Esmail Corp in association with USG Audio and QCode Media – 1

  • ESPN 30 for 30 – 2

  • ESPN 30 for 30 and Radio Diaries – 1

  • Fast Company with Economic Hardship Reporting Project – 1

  • Fictionz Media – 1

  • FilmNation Entertainment, Gilded Audio – 1

  • GBH KIDS – 2

  • Gimlet Media – 2

  • Gimlet Media and Spotify Studios – 2

  • HBO Max – 1

  • Headspace Studios – 1

  • Higher Ground Audio, Futuro Media Group, Spotify – 2

  • iHeart Podcasts/My Cultura Network – 1

  • iHeartPodcasts – 1 

  • iHeartPodcasts & Sports Illustrated Studios – 1 

  • Imperative Entertainment, Vespucci – 1 

  • Jane Curtis – 1 

  • Joanne Diaz and Abram Van Engen – 1

  • LAist Studios – 3

  • Lava For Good – 1 

  • Lava for Good podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. – 3

  • Lemonada Media – 1

  • LinkedIn Editorial Productions – 1

  • Mark Ramsey Media LLC – 1

  • Marketplace – 1 

  • Marvel Entertainment/Sirius XM – 1 

  • MIT Technology Review – 1 

  • More Sauce/Stitcher/SiriusXM – 1

  • MSNBC – 2 

  • MSNBC / NBC News Audio Unit – 1

  • MUBI, Inc. – 2 

  • New Lines Magazine – 1

  • News Podcasts, Long Form Audio, BBC – 1

  • Noiser, Airship – 1

  • NPR – 2

  • Pacific Content & Mozilla Foundation – 1 

  • Packhowl Media – 1 

  • Patrick Abboud & Simon Cunich, Audible – 2 

  • Pod People – 1 

  • Podcamp Media – 1 

  • Podcast Laundry – 1

  • Population Media Center – 1 

  • Population Media Center, Reasonable Volume, Clamor – 1 

  • Project Brazen and PRX – 1

  • PRX & The Truth – 1 

  • Public Road Productions – 1

  • Pushkin Industries – 3

  • Pushkin Industries, SONY Music Entertainment, Somethin' Else – 2 

  • QCode – 7

  • Queue Points – 1 

  • Realm – 1 

  • Realm, Dave Beazely & Casey Wells – 1

  • Red Table Talk Podcasts – 1 

  • Serial Productions – 2 

  • Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeart Radio and in association with Wolf At The Door – 1 

  • SiriusXM's Earwolf – 1 

  • SiriusXM's Earwolf & Team Coco – 1 

  • SiriusXM's Stitcher Studios and 143 Studios – 1 

  • Slate – 3 

  • Sonoro, Futuro Media – 1

  • Sonoro, iHeartMedia / MyCultura Network, Trojan Horse – 1 

  • Story Pirates – 2 

  • Team Coco – 1 

  • TED & PRX – 1 

  • TED Audio Collective – 1 

  • Tenderfoot TV – 1 

  • TenderfootTV, Resonate Recordings and Cadence 13 – 1 

  • The Economist – 2

  • The Radio Workshop – 1 

  • The Washington Post – 2 

  • theSkimm – 1 

  • TMI Productions – 1

  • Toronto Star – 2

  • Travel Channel – 1

  • Treefort Media – 2

  • Treefort Media; Audible – 3

  • USHMM – 1 

  • VICE Audio – 1 

  • Vox – 1 

  • Vox Creative – 1 

  • WaitWhat – 1 

  • Wonder Media Network – 1 

  • Wondery – 13

  • Work x Work – 1 

ABOUT THE PODCAST ACADEMY
Founded in February 2020, The Podcast Academy is a not-for-profit professional membership organization that celebrates excellence in podcasting and elevates awareness of podcasts as an indispensable medium for entertainment, information, and creative expression. It values individual and organizational creators alike, of all backgrounds and means, and defines achievement through the values of quality, creativity, innovation, inclusion, and impact. The Podcast Academy provides community, professional development, and industry connections through inclusive, dynamic programming. For more information about The Podcast Academy, please visit www.thepodcastacademy.com and follow/like/subscribe on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linkedin. 

Sponsor support forThe Podcast Academy includesThe Hollywood Reporter,Sonoro,Audible,The Podcast Show, PRX,Stitcher,Tenderfoot TV,Castbox,Loeb & Loeb, Paramount, and IMDb.

# # #

Press Contact:
The Samonte Group
Michael@SamonteGroup.com

Press Assets:
Larry Wilmore headshot: here; photo credit: Peter Yang, Comedy Central
The Ambies tune-in asset: here; courtesy: The Podcast Academy
The Ambies logo: here; photo credit: The Podcast Academy