
The Ambies - the nominees, 2021
This article is at least a year old
The Podcast Academy, the preeminent professional podcast organization, has unveiled the nominees for its inaugural Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies). 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 hour-long ceremony will be streamed LIVE on YouTube, Twitch and other platforms on Sunday, May 16, 2021 from Los Angeles, CA at 5PM PT/8PM ET, with a pre-show starting at 4:30PM PT/7:30PM ET.
The Ambies will highlight 164 nominees across 23 categories, selected by every voting member of The Podcast Academy, in addition to a Governor’s Award. Eligible new members will be able to vote to determine this year’s winners if registered by March 26.
“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,” said Chairman of the Podcast Academy, Donald Albright, President & Co-Founder of Tenderfoot TV. “Today, we celebrate the community with the announcement of our first-ever Ambies nominees. They are just as diverse as the creators, both in front of and behind the mic, and are reflective of the far reaching medium. On behalf of the membership, we congratulate all of the nominees.”
Dirty Diana, The Left Right Game and Wind of Change earned four nominations each, the most for any program.
A variety of podcasts from independent and nonprofit media entities also earned nominations including Adult ISH (YR Media), Borne the Battle (US Department of Veterans Affairs), DEM TIMES (Our Day), DETOURS (WGBH/PRX), On Being with Krista Tippett (On Being Studios), among others.
This year’s slate of inaugural nominees feature activists, award-winners, bestselling authors, luminaries and renowned journalists including: Hillary Rodham Clinton; Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey; NAACP Image Awards-winner Tessa Thompson; Order of Canada recipient Malcolm Gladwell; Back Issue’s multidisciplinary artist Josh Gwynn and Netflix’s Strong Black Legends Tracy Clayton; New York Times bestselling author Patrick Radden Keefe; Forgotten: Women of Juarez’s Peabody Award-winning journalist Oz Woloshyn and public radio journalist Mónica Ortiz Uribe; The Heist’s Pulitzer-winning reporter Mei Fong and award-winning radio journalist Sally Herships; as well as Pulitzer finalist Ear Hustle, co-hosted by Earlonne Woods, a former inmate at San Quentin, and Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, a current inmate.
The full list of nominees
Editor’s note: Podnews has added publisher detail from individual show listings. Just show titles were given by the Ambies; we’ve matched these up to listings ourselves: however, some titles are used by multiple podcasts.
Podcast of The Year
- Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
- Culture Kings
- Don’t Ask Tig
- Groceries
- How Did This Get Made?
- The Breakfast Club
- Threedom
- 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
- Dissect
- Even the Rich
- For Life: The Podcast
- Office Ladies
- Prime Video Presents
- The First One (Amazon Music)
- The Plot Thickens
- Asking For It
- Blood Ties - Season 2
- DEM TIMES
- Dirty Diana
- Frozen Frights: Aurora Borealis “Vacant”
- The Left Right Game
- Two Princes
- American History Tellers
- American Scandal
- DETOURS
- Driving the Green Book
- Slow Burn
- Unfinished: Deep South
- Very Presidential with Ashley Flowers
- 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
- American Innovations
- Brave New Planet
- How to Save a Planet
- In Machines We Trust
- Short Wave
- Tai Asks Why
- Unlocking Bryson’s Brain
- Do No Harm
- Post Reports
- Suspicious Activity: Inside the FinCEN Files
- The Journal
- Today, Explained
- VICE News Reports
- What Next
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Code Switch
- Ear Hustle
- Heavyweight
- Into America
- Latino USA
- Resistance
- You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton
- 17 Weeks
- Drafted
- Sports Uncovered
- The Cam Chronicles
- The Edge: Houston Astros
- The Lead
- Whistleblower
- Brainwashed/Uncover
- Chasing Cosby
- Dr. Death Season 2: Dr. Fata
- I’m Not A Monster
- Somebody
- Supernatural with Ashley Flowers
- The Messenger
- Adult ISH
- Dying for Sex
- Last Day Season 2
- The Happiness Lab
- Therapy for Black Girls
- We Got You
- Where Should We Begin?

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Best Business Podcast
Best Comedy Podcast
Best Documentary Podcast
Best Entertainment Podcast
Best Fiction Podcast
Best History Podcast
Best Interview Podcast
Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
Best News Podcast
Best Original Score and Music Supervision
Best Performer in Audio Fiction
Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast
Best Podcast Host
Best Politics or Opinion Podcast
Best Production and Sound Design
Best Reporting
Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction
Best Society and Culture Podcast
Best Sports Podcast
Best True Crime Podcast
Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast
ABOUT THE PODCAST ACADEMY Founded in February 2020, The Podcast Academy is a non-profit professional membership organization that celebrates excellence in podcasting and elevates awareness of podcasts as an indispensable medium for entertainment, information, and creative expression. It values individual and organizational creators alike, of all backgrounds and means, and defines achievement through the values of quality, creativity, innovation, inclusion, and impact. The Podcast Academy provides community, professional development, and industry connections through inclusive, dynamic programming. For more information about The Podcast Academy, please visit www.thepodcastacademy.com and follow/like/subscribe on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linkedin.
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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:Amazon
National Geographic
NPR
Tenderfoot TV
The Ambies
The Podcast Academy
Twitch
VICE News
YouTube