The Podcast Academy Unveils 164 Nominees For First Annual Ambies Awards

By James Hale • 03/04/2021 •

The nascent Podcast Academy has announced a full list of 164 nominees for its first annual Awards for Excellence in Audio, aka the Ambies.

The Ambies, streaming live on YouTube and Twitch May 16, will dole out awards across 23 categories plus a Governor’s Award, with winners being decided by voting members of the Academy.

“The Podcast Academy was founded a year ago with the mission to foster inclusivity, elevate awareness and build excitement for podcasts through initiatives, programming and our annual awards,” Donald Albright, chairman of the Podcast Academy and cofounder/president of Tenderfoot TV, said in a statement.

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The Academy added that its goal with the Ambies is to call attention to podcasts “as a unique and personal medium for entertainment, information, storytelling and expression.”

Per Variety, the Podcast Academy received more than 1,000 submissions from 358 people or companies for this year’s awards. Two-thirds of nominated shows have a female, Black, Latine, Asian, Middle Eastern, or LGBTQ+ host or hosts.

Top-nominated shows include Demi Moore’s scripted erotic series Dirty Diana, scripted horror The Left Right Game, and historical heavy metal/spy epic Wind of Change, with four nominations each.

The Academy pointed out that several nominated series come from independent and/or nonprofit media entities, include Borne the Battle from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, DEM TIMES from U.K.-based mental health organization Our Day, and Adult ISH from YR Media, a network of young journalists and artists.

You can see the full list of categories and nominees below. The Ambies will stream Sunday, May 16, at 8 p.m. EST.

THE AMBIES 2021 FULL LIST OF NOMINEES:

Podcast of The Year:

Blockbuster: The Story of James Cameron (Miniseries)
Bunga Bunga
Chasing Cosby
DETOURS
Dirty Diana
Dying for Sex
For Life: The Podcast
Forgotten: Women of Juarez
Say Their Name
The Happiness Lab

Best Business Podcast:

An Arm and a Leg
Brought to you by…
Go For Broke
Masters of Scale
Teamistry
The Heist
Women at Work

Best Comedy Podcast:

Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Culture Kings
Don’t Ask Tig
Groceries
How Did This Get Made?
The Breakfast Club
Threedom

Best Documentary Podcast:

California City
Conviction Season 2: American Panic
For Life: The Podcast
I’m Not A Monster
Louder Than a Riot
Painkiller: America’s Fentanyl Crisis
The Edge: Houston Astros

Best Entertainment Podcast:

Dissect
Even the Rich
For Life: The Podcast
Office Ladies
Prime Video Presents
The First One
The Plot Thickens

Best Fiction Podcast:

Asking For It
Blood Ties – Season 2
DEM TIMES
Dirty Diana
Frozen Frights: Aurora Borealis “Vacant”
The Left Right Game
Two Princes

Best History Podcast:

American History Tellers
American Scandal
DETOURS
Driving the Green Book
Slow Burn
Unfinished: Deep South
Very Presidential with Ashley Flowers

Best Interview Podcast:

A Winning Mindset: Lessons From The Paralympics
Asian Enough
Back from Broken
Death, Sex & Money
More With Anna Maria Tremonti
The FRONTLINE Dispatch
Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller

Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast:

American Innovations
Brave New Planet
How to Save a Planet
In Machines We Trust
Short Wave
Tai Asks Why
Unlocking Bryson’s Brain

Best News Podcast:

Do No Harm
Post Reports
Suspicious Activity: Inside the FinCEN Files
The Journal
Today, Explained
VICE News Reports
What Next

Best Original Score and Music Supervision:

Bunga Bunga – Scott Velasquez, Jeff Schmidt
Dead and Gone – Makeup And Vanity Set
Jacked: Rise of New Jack Sound – Marcelino Villalpando
Revisionist History – Luis Guerra
Throughline – Ramtin Arablouei, Drop Electric, Hania Rani
Treasure Island 2020 – Chris Tarry, Jennifer Rowekamp
Two Princes – Score: Greg Laswell; Theme and additional scoring by Bobby Lord; Music Supervision: Jonathon Roberts

Best Performer in Audio Fiction:

DUST, Season 3: CHRYSALIS – Corey Hawkins
Hank the Cowdog – Matthew McConaughey
Light House – Aly Trasher
National Geographic Kids Greeking Out – Kenny Curtis, Tori Kerr
The Left Right Game – Tessa Thompson
Two Princes – Noah Galvin, Ari’el Stachel, Samira Wiley, Gideon Glick, Wesley Taylor, Alfredo Narciso, Mandi Masden, CJ
Wilson, Michelle Gomez
We Are Not Alone – Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast:

Borne the Battle
Dare to Lead with Brené Brown
Dear Therapists
Hey Spirit!
Meditative Story
On Being with Krista Tippett
Stay Calm with Bob Roth

Best Podcast Host:

Amicus Presents: The Class of RBG – Dahlia Lithwick
Back Issue – Josh Gwynn, Tracy Clayton
Bunga Bunga – Whitney Cummings
MOBITUARIES: Anna May Wong (Death of a Trailblazer) – Mo Rocca
Revisionist History – Malcolm Gladwell
Science Vs – Wendy Zukerman
Wind of Change – Patrick Radden Keefe

Best Politics or Opinion Podcast:

Burn the Boats
Gaining Ground: The New Georgia
Our Nation of Immigrants
Politically Re-Active
The Dan Bongino Show
The NPR Politics Podcast
Winning Wisconsin

Best Production and Sound Design:

Canary: The Washington Post Investigates – Bishop Sand
Conviction: American Panic – Matthew Boll
Dirty Diana – Millie Iatrou, Ryan Walsh, Katie Halliday, Justin Davey, Matt Yocum & Ben Michev, Neely Oeftering
The Left Right Game – Ryan Walsh, Matt Yocum, Will Files, Ryan Sullivan
Unfinished: Short Creek – John DeLore
Where is George Gibney? – Ger McDonnell
Wind of Change – Henry Molofsky

Best Reporting:

Fiasco: Iran-Contra – Leon Neyfakh
I’m Not A Monster – Josh Baker
Planet Money – Sarah Gonzalez, Kenny Malone, Jacob Goldstein, Robert Smith, Amanda Aroncyzk, Karen Duffin, Mary Childs
Reveal – Shoshana Walter, Laura Starecheski, Ike Srikandarajah
The Take – Malika Bilal, Stefanie Dekker, Safwat al-Kahlout
Unfinished: Short Creek – Sarah Ventre, Ash Sanders
Wind of Change – Patrick Radden Keefe

Best Scriptwriting, Fiction:

Appearances – Sharon Mashihi
DEM TIMES – Rhys Reed-Johnson, Jacob Roberts-Mensah
Dirty Diana – Shana Feste
Looking For Latoya – Amy Aniobi, Chris Sanford, Kindsey Young
Make It Up As We Go – David Hudgins, Brooks Hudgins
National Geographic Kids Greeking Out – Kenny Curtis, Jillian Hughes, Emily Everhart
The Left Right Game – Jack Anderson

Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction:

And Nothing Less – Robin Linn
Heavyweight – Jonathan Goldstein, Kalila Holt, Stevie Lane
Masters of Scale – WaitWhat Team, Adam Skuse, Katie Clark Gray
Resistance – Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr.
Suspicious Activity: Inside the FinCEN Files – Jonathan Menjivar, Jenelle Pifer, Joel Lovell
Whistleblower – Tim Livingston
Wind of Change – Patrick Radden Keefe

Best Society and Culture Podcast: