The 2025 Ambies winners: Hysterical wins podcast of the year

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

Trailer Podcast of the year: Hysterical; Wondery, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios

Society & Culture
From: Wondery | Pineapple Street Studios
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Business Podcast: How I Built This; Wondery, Built It Productions and NPR

Business
From: Guy Raz | Wondery
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best 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

Trailer Best DIY Podcast: abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast; All-American Ruins

Society & Culture and History
From: All-American Ruins
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Documentary Podcast: Tested; Bucket of Eels, CBC Podcasts and NPR’s Embedded

Sports
From: CBC + NPR
Hosted by: Triton Digital

Trailer Best Entertainment Podcast: The Wonder of Stevie: Audible, Higher Ground, and Pineapple Street Studios

Music
From: Higher Ground, Pineapple Street Studios
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Fiction Podcast: Tales of Fists & Fireballs; ADHx2

Drama
From: Aaron David Harris
Hosted by: Spreaker

Trailer Best History Podcast: Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD; Wondery, Crooked Media

History
From: Wondery | Crooked Media
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Indie Podcast: What Happened in Skinner; Mazama Entertainment

Fiction
From: Mazama Entertainment
Hosted by: RedCircle

Trailer Best Indie Podcast Host or Hosts: Dallas Taylor, for Twenty Thousand Hertz; Defacto Sound

Arts and Music
From: Dallas Taylor
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Interview Podcast: Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim; Headgum

Comedy and Kids & Family
From: Headgum
Hosted by: ART19

Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast: 99% Invisible; SiriusXM

Arts
From: Roman Mars
Hosted by: Simplecast

Trailer Best News Podcast: The Ten News; Small But Mighty Media, Next Chapter Podcasts

Kids & Family and News
From: Small But Mighty Media
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Original Score and Music Supervision: Dan Leone for Ripple; Western Sound, APM Studios

Society & Culture
From: American Public Media
Hosted by: American Public Media

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

Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast: 10% Happier with Dan Harris; 10% Media

Health & Fitness
From: 10% Happier
Hosted by: Libsyn

Trailer Best Podcast for Kids: Wow in the World; Wondery, Tinkercast

Education
From: Tinkercast | Wondery
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Podcast Host or Hosts: Ronald Young Jr. for Weight For It; ohitsBigRon studios LLC

Society & Culture
From: ohitsBigRon Studios
Hosted by: PRX

Best Politics or Opinion Podcast: The NPR Politics Podcast; NPR

News
From: NPR
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Production and Sound Design: Michelle Macklem for Girl v. Horse; ESPN Podcasts, 30 for 30 Podcasts

Sports
From: ESPN
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Reporting: Dan Taberski for Hysterical; Wondery, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios

Society & Culture
From: Wondery | Pineapple Street Studios
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best Scriptwriting, Fiction: Anderson Cook and Sidney Butler for Academy; AT WILL MEDIA, Wondery

Fiction
From: Wondery | AT WILL MEDIA
Hosted by: ART19

Trailer Best 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

Trailer Best Society and Culture Podcast: Inheriting; LAist Studios

Society & Culture
From: NPR
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Spanish Language Narrative Podcast - Fiction or Nonfiction: HUMO: Murder and Silence in El Salvador; Sonoro

Society & Culture
From: Sonoro
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Sports Podcast: Broomgate: A Curling Scandal; Kelly&Kelly, CBC Podcasts, USG Audio, and Pacific Electric

Comedy
From: CBC + USG Audio
Hosted by: Triton Digital

Best True Crime Podcast: Beyond All Repair; WBUR, ZSP Media

True Crime
From: WBUR
Hosted by: Megaphone

Trailer Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast: Therapy for Black Girls; iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness
From: iHeartPodcasts and Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.
Hosted by: Omny Studio

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