Independent Podcast Awards entries increase by over 20%

Entries to the Independent Podcast Awards have now closed with 22% more than last year, at nearly 450 received.

The awards were launched in 2023 to recognise the outstanding talent in the independent podcasting community. They are open to podcasters in the UK and Ireland that are not backed by big brands or large corporations.

Launched by whynow Media and indie podcast Verbal Diorama, the awards are backed by a number of industry partners.

Supporters for the 2024 event are Acast, Adelicious, Advertising Week Europe, AudioUK, Captivate, Podknows Podcasting, Rusty Quill, and Spotify. The Media Partners are Pod Bible, Podcasting Seriously and Podnews, while Kings Place are the Venue Partner.

In addition to supporting the event, many of the partners are also supporting the winners with additional resources.

Neal Veglio at Podknows Podcasting is offering a free group audit session with the category winners in November. This is a service that Neal has been offering to clients for a number of years, and each one has found it invaluable for increasing listeners.

Neal said: “I’m delighted to be working with the Independent Podcast Awards and their winners. I’ve been working with podcasters of all sizes for a long time now and have been able to help lots of people improve the quality and listenership of their shows.

“By auditing the winners’ shows I’ll hopefully be able to help them take things to the next level with their podcasts.”

Acast, Adelicious and Captivate will be offering free hosting to winners, AudioUK will be gifting a Creator membership to its organisation, while Rusty Quill will offer free ads on its network to the winner of the Fiction category.

The Independent Podcast Awards are currently going through the judging process and the shortlist will be announced in early September.