Rules

19th Annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards

The 19th annual Podcast Awards is upon us. Please review the rules and timeline for 2024

The Podcast Awards are International and open to all shows regardless of country of origin or language. We encourage shows from around the world to participate in the podcast awards.

Official Podcast Awards Timeline
  • Podcaster Registration Period, Feb 1- July 31
  • Sponsor Banner Resets - May 1
  • Most Influential Podcaster (Podcasters Submissions submitted during registration Feb 1 - July 31)
  • Listener Nomination Period, July 1-July 31
  • Most influential Podcaster (Listener Submissions during voting July 1 - July 31)
  • Slate Announcement Aug. 5 - 4pm EST
  • Slate Voting, August 6 - September 3
  • Podcast Awards Ceremony, In Conjunction with International Podcast Day. Live Sept 30th @ 8PM EST

Spirit of the Podcast Awards

It's the spirit of the Podcast Awards for individual shows to work with their audiences to ask for nominations for a Podcast Award. That said, shows often collaborate -- aka team up with other shows -- to get each of their audiences to nominate a specific slate of shows and maximize the number of listener nominations. Networks and independent shows can work together with the following caveat that applies to all.

Expressly Forbidden: Automated programs, web assist templates that interact with the Podcast Awards site, web overlays, bookmarklets, and no nomination tool or macro is allowed. The podcast committee reserves the right to revise and amend forbidden activity details at any time throughout the awards process.

Allowed Activity: Podcasters can and should provide instructions in their shows and on their sites instructing their audiences on registering and nominating their podcast.

Reasons for Disqualification

The Podcast Awards committee reserves the right to disqualify any show or network of shows the committee feels violates the spirit of the Podcast Awards or brings discredit to the awards. The Podcast Awards committee's decision on disqualification will not come lightly but will be final; a disqualified show can appeal disqualification in writing within 48 hours to podcast@podcastconnect.com. Disqualification will result in forfeiture of the registration fee, and the Podcast Awards committee may and can invoke multi-year suspensions from future participation.

The Podcast Awards committee reserves the right to disqualify any show on the grounds of hate speech or violence. We reserve the right to retroactively remove a nominee or winning show from previous years. While we strongly support freedom of speech, we will not tolerate hate speech and or violence against others

Nomination Rules and Eligibility

  • Any show podcasting on or before July 31, 2024, with a minimum of 10 published episodes or is a documentary series under ten episodes is eligible to register and be nominated for the 2024 Podcast Awards.
  • Submitted Podcast shall/must have a publicly accessible RSS feed that can be followed/subscribed to.
  • Submission for Best Podcast Listening Platform can include any app, site, or platform capable of listening to a publicly available podcast.
  • Qualifications for submissions of an influential podcaster only require that they have created a podcast present or past and have been a podcast creator.
  • Legacy Shows, as listed on the Legacy Page, are not eligible to win a category podcast award. If a legacy show has not yet won a People's Choice Podcast Award, the show will be automatically registered to participate in the People's Choice Category.
  • All registered shows will automatically be eligible to be nominated in the People's Choice Category.
  • Any show wishing to be eligible to be nominated can register via the registration page until the nomination closing date and pay the $50 registration fee via PayPal. Registrations are non-refundable for any reason, but shows can be asked to be moved to a different category before July 1st
  • Shows can register in as many appropriate categories as they want. Each category registration is a separate fee. Just make sure your show is appropriate for each category.
  • Shows that do not register are not eligible to participate; a third party can register a show on behalf of another podcast. The registration fee is non-refundable.

The Registration Period

The 2024 registration window is Feb 1 to July 31. Note: Be aware that the listener nomination period opens July 1, and your show will not be added or shown on the nomination page until you register.

The Nomination Period

Listeners can register on the Podcast Awards site and then nominate their favorite registered shows through a web-based form between July 1 and July 31. Be aware that once a nomination has been made in a specific category, that category will be closed to the nominator, and no changes can be made. Listeners have the full 30 days to nominate a show in each category.

Podcast Awards Slate Determination

The slate of nominated shows to be voted on will be determined by the number of nominations each show receives during the nomination period. The nomination committee -- made up of three Podcast Awards team members -- will review the top 10 nominated shows, validate eligibility, and certify the slate to be announced no later than Aug. 6. Each category will have up to 10 eligible shows to be voted on.

Podcast Awards Voting

The Podcast Awards voting team will be made up as follows:

  • The Podcast Awards Committee will invite journalists, podcast thought leaders, legacy podcasters, sponsors, and individuals of the committee’s choosing to vote, not to exceed 500 participants.
  • All registered podcasters will be asked to review and vote.
  • Through random selection, 1/4 of the registered listeners who volunteered to vote during registration will be asked to review with a minimum of 20,000 listeners casting final ballots to a minimum of 5 shows each.

This voter pool of podcasters, listeners, journalists, thought leaders, and sponsors will independently review and vote to determine a winner in each category. In a voting tie, the show with the most nominations will be awarded the category.

Final voting results will be verified by One Technologies and submitted to the Podcast Committee. In the spirit of the Podcast Awards, vote totals will not be posted or revealed. Shows that make the slate are all equally honored.

2024 Podcast Awards Ceremony

The Podcast Awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with International Podcast Day in and around Sept. 30, during a 90-minute streamed live ceremony.

Awards Preparation

All shows that make the final voting slate must submit a 90-second maximum acceptance video on the premise that they have won no later than Sept. 24. The video shall be in mp4 or mov HD format at 1080. It will be submitted through an online submission form that we will be made available via email when the final slate is announced.

If the final slate nominee fails to submit their 90-second acceptance speech and is the winner, the podcast will forfeit, and the award will go to the second-place show. Do not disappoint the listener who nominated you by not submitting your winning video.

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