Dan Taberski picks up his award
Rachel Heimerman

The 2025 Ambies winners: Hysterical wins podcast of the year

Press Release · Chicago, IL, USA ·

Tonight, The Podcast Academy (TPA), the preeminent professional podcast organization, announced winners at its Fifth Annual Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies®) from the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, which was hosted by multi-hyphenate comedian Tig Notaro. Additionally, Ira Glass was honored with the esteemed Governors Award, which recognizes a podcast or individual for the compelling influence they’ve had on the industry; and Sam Sanders received the Impact Award, which recognizes an individual or podcast that has made a significant, positive effect on its listeners.

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 highlighted 199 nominees across 28 categories with winners selected by every voting member of TPA. A full list of the 2025 nominees may be found here.

Fifth annual Awards for Excellence in Audio winners

    Hysterical
    Trailer Play trailerPodcast of the year: Hysterical; Wondery, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios
    Society & Culture
    From: Wondery | Pineapple Street Studios
    Hosted by: ART19
    How I Built This with Guy Raz
    Trailer Play trailerBest Business Podcast: How I Built This; Wondery, Built It Productions and NPR
    Business
    From: Guy Raz | Wondery
    Hosted by: ART19
    Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
    Trailer Play trailerBest Comedy Podcast: Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang; iHeartPodcasts, Big Money Players
    Culture
    From: Big Money Players Network and iHeartPodcasts
    Hosted by: Omny Studio
    abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
    Trailer Play trailerBest DIY Podcast: abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast; All-American Ruins
    Society & Culture and History
    From: All-American Ruins
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    Tested
    Trailer Play trailerBest Documentary Podcast: Tested; Bucket of Eels, CBC Podcasts and NPR’s Embedded
    Sports
    From: CBC + NPR
    Hosted by: Triton Digital
    The Wonder of Stevie
    Trailer Play trailerBest Entertainment Podcast: The Wonder of Stevie: Audible, Higher Ground, and Pineapple Street Studios
    Music
    From: Higher Ground, Pineapple Street Studios
    Hosted by: ART19
    Tales of Fists & Fireballs
    Trailer Play trailerBest Fiction Podcast: Tales of Fists & Fireballs; ADHx2
    Drama
    From: Aaron David Harris
    Hosted by: Spreaker
    Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
    Trailer Play trailerBest History Podcast: Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD; Wondery, Crooked Media
    History
    From: Wondery | Crooked Media
    Hosted by: ART19
    What Happened in Skinner
    Trailer Play trailerBest Indie Podcast: What Happened in Skinner; Mazama Entertainment
    Fiction
    From: Mazama Entertainment
    Hosted by: RedCircle
    Twenty Thousand Hertz
    Trailer Play trailerBest Indie Podcast Host or Hosts: Dallas Taylor, for Twenty Thousand Hertz; Defacto Sound
    Arts and Music
    From: Dallas Taylor
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim
    Trailer Play trailerBest Interview Podcast: Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim; Headgum
    Comedy and Kids & Family
    From: Headgum
    Hosted by: ART19
    99% Invisible
    Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast: 99% Invisible; SiriusXM
    Arts
    From: Roman Mars
    Hosted by: Simplecast
    The Ten News, News For Curious Kids
    Trailer Play trailerBest News Podcast: The Ten News; Small But Mighty Media, Next Chapter Podcasts
    Kids & Family and News
    From: Small But Mighty Media
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    Ripple
    Trailer Play trailerBest Original Score and Music Supervision: Dan Leone for Ripple; Western Sound, APM Studios
    Society & Culture
    From: American Public Media
    Hosted by: American Public Media
    Limelight
    Best Performance in Audio Fiction: Caitlin Stasey, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, David Yow, Caroline Morahan, Guinevere Turner, Elizabeth Halpern, Travis Harmon, Brad Griffith, James Bacon, Jameson Cush, Jonathan Shockley, Ayla Glass and Chris Goodwin for The Skies Are Watching (part of Limelight), Goldhawk Productions
    Fiction
    From: BBC Radio 4
    Hosted by: BBC
    10% Happier with Dan Harris
    Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast: 10% Happier with Dan Harris; 10% Media
    Health & Fitness
    From: 10% Happier
    Hosted by: Libsyn
    Wow in the World
    Trailer Play trailerBest Podcast for Kids: Wow in the World; Wondery, Tinkercast
    Education
    From: Tinkercast | Wondery
    Hosted by: ART19
    Weight For It
    Trailer Play trailerBest Podcast Host or Hosts: Ronald Young Jr. for Weight For It; ohitsBigRon studios LLC
    Society & Culture
    From: ohitsBigRon Studios
    Hosted by: PRX
    The NPR Politics Podcast
    Best Politics or Opinion Podcast: The NPR Politics Podcast; NPR
    News
    From: NPR
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    30 for 30 Podcasts
    Trailer Play trailerBest Production and Sound Design: Michelle Macklem for Girl v. Horse; ESPN Podcasts, 30 for 30 Podcasts
    Sports
    From: ESPN
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    Hysterical
    Trailer Play trailerBest Reporting: Dan Taberski for Hysterical; Wondery, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios
    Society & Culture
    From: Wondery | Pineapple Street Studios
    Hosted by: ART19
    Academy
    Trailer Play trailerBest Scriptwriting, Fiction: Anderson Cook and Sidney Butler for Academy; AT WILL MEDIA, Wondery
    Fiction
    From: Wondery | AT WILL MEDIA
    Hosted by: ART19
    Reveal
    Trailer Play trailerBest Scriptwriting, Non-Fiction: Ashley Cleek, Al Letson, Brett Myers for Reveal; Reveal, PRX
    News
    From: The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
    Hosted by: PRX
    Inheriting
    Trailer Play trailerBest Society and Culture Podcast: Inheriting; LAist Studios
    Society & Culture
    From: NPR
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    HUMO: Murder and Silence in El Salvador
    Trailer Play trailerBest Spanish Language Narrative Podcast - Fiction or Nonfiction: HUMO: Murder and Silence in El Salvador; Sonoro
    Society & Culture
    From: Sonoro
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    Broomgate: A Curling Scandal
    Trailer Play trailerBest Sports Podcast: Broomgate: A Curling Scandal; Kelly&Kelly, CBC Podcasts, USG Audio, and Pacific Electric
    Comedy
    From: CBC + USG Audio
    Hosted by: Triton Digital
    Beyond All Repair
    Best True Crime Podcast: Beyond All Repair; WBUR, ZSP Media
    True Crime
    From: WBUR
    Hosted by: Megaphone
    Therapy for Black Girls
    Trailer Play trailerBest Wellness or Relationships Podcast: Therapy for Black Girls; iHeartPodcasts
    Health & Fitness
    From: iHeartPodcasts and Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.
    Hosted by: Omny Studio

OPML icon The above list of podcasts is available as an OPML file for your podcast player


This is a press release which we link to from Podnews, our daily newsletter about podcasting and on-demand. We may make small edits for editorial reasons.

Companies mentioned above:
Audible logoAudibleESPN logoESPNNPR logoNPRRogers logoRogersThe Ambies logoThe AmbiesUSG Audio logoUSG AudioWondery logoWondery

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