New York Festivals 2025 Radio Awards Opens for Entries

The New York Festivals® 2025 Radio Awards competition is officially open for submissions.

The New York Festivals Radio Awards offer a platform to celebrate creative storytellers from around the world. For 67 years, NYF has recognized both innovation and exceptional quality in broadcast audio content across all genres and platforms since 1957.

“This year, we are thrilled to announce the debut of multiple new categories for fiction and nonfiction reflecting the ways today’s audio storytellers are encouraging audiences everywhere to tune in and stay engaged,” said Rose Anderson, EVP and Executive Director, New York Festivals. “They join our existing categories for Sound Art, Audio Books, Podcasts, and Social Justice.”

Always at the forefront of the evolving global landscape of audio content creation, the 2025 Radio Awards has kept pace with global industry trends and introduced seven exciting new categories further showcasing the wide range of talent and creativity that drives the industry.

The Pop Culture Documentary category highlights and celebrates creative radio documentaries that capture today’s trends.

New in Entertainment, the Anthology Program category shines a spotlight on engaging curated audio collections. Digital Anthology will showcase the diverse audio selections encompassing digital media. Anthology Podcasts honor expansive works featuring unique voices united by a common theme or purpose. Audiobooks transports listeners into new worlds, the new Audio Book Technical Production Team category celebrates innovative contributions in the industry.

On Air Talent categories set the stage for honoring captivating top-tier audio talent, new categories for 2025 include Program Host and Sports Anchor/Analyst.

View the 2025 NYF Radio Awards powerhouse category roster.

Since 2023, The National Press Club, the World’s Leading Professional Organization for Journalists™. has partnered with New York Festivals to honor the highest scoring news program across the Coverage Of Breaking News Story, Coverage Of Ongoing News Story, Nonfiction Series, Investigative Journalism Podcast, and News Podcast categories. For 2024, Murder in Boston: The Untold Story of the Charles and Carol Stuart Shooting," produced by The Boston Globe and presented by The Boston Globe and HBO Documentary Films, was recognized by New York Festivals with the 2024 National Press Club Award in the Investigative Journalism Podcast category.

NYF Radio Grand Awards for 2024 went to the following programs: The Beatles’ Legacy: Red and Blue by Howlett Media Productions Ltd. for Music, Hamlet Noir from Almost Tangible for Drama, and Bloodlines by CBC Podcasts, BBC Asian Network, BBC Sounds for Narrative/Documentary Podcast. The 2025 winner will be announced this April during the 2025 Storytellers Gala.

New York Festivals honored the 2024 competition’s award-winning entries at the 2024 Storytellers Gala virtual event on April 16th. The virtual event included global audio highlights, award winners’ acceptance speeches from around the world, and up-close and personal spotlights featuring some of radio’s most respected storytellers.

NYF’s Radio Awards receives entries from radio stations, networks, and independent producers from over 30 countries around the globe. The mission of the competition is to honor the achievements of the men and women who make up the global audio storytelling community.

New York Festivals invites award-winning industry leaders from 6 continents around the world to become members of their world-class Radio Awards Grand Jury. The 2025 Radio Awards Grand jury will be recruited in the coming weeks. Entries are judged on production values, creativity, content presentation, direction, writing, achievement of purpose, and audience suitability. All Entries in NYF’s 2025 Radio Awards will be judged by the Grand Jury comprised of some of the world’s most recognizable voices and captivating audio storytellers from around the globe including producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals.

Award-winning entries for 2025 will be showcased on the Radio Awards winners gallery.

The entry deadline for the 2025 Radio Awards competition is January 31, 2025.