This was the first time I’ve attended, so I thought I’d give a little overview of my experience as a first-timer for others who might not be familiar with the event.

Production Company of the Year – Reduced Listening – courtesy of Audio UK

This is the twelfth year of the awards, presented by Audio UK, and the event is a true awards-ceremony atmosphere. Fizzy wine and mocktails were available at the entrance. The space for mingling had a bar, DJ and lights that certainly made for a party-feeling, but did make it difficult to speak to people. Walking through the space, groups of people were excitedly catching up. Attending by myself, there was the slight panic of being in a crowd I did not know.

Luckily, Pod Bible has given me enough connections to recognise a few faces (shout out to Naomi from The International Women’s Podcast Awards, and Imriel from Content is Queen in particular!) and a few other people I know from freelancing. This event would have been very overwhelming if I was completely new to audio. For any solo or indy podcasters thinking of attending next year, I would suggest trying to connect with people before the event.

A highlight of the evening was Lily Ames and Laura Blake’s acceptance speech for the Audio UK Award. Hearing more about how Lily set-up the UK Audio Network (UKAN) was so interesting (UKAN has been so valuable for me personally pivoting to the audio industry from a very different background.) But they also used the speech to highlight the anti-trans podcast being nominated at the 2022 ARIAS.

AudioUK Award. – Lily Ames, UKAN, Laura Blake – courtesy of Audio UK

The need for greater action on inclusion, diversity and safeguarding was an aspect picked-up at a few points. The winners of the Production Company of the Year, Reduced Listening, also used their speech for this, and I noted a few winners mentioning going freelance so that they could create the work they couldn’t create in established media giants.

But it is also great to see the successes from grassroots initiatives working in the DEI space – Sarah Myles’ RISE & SHINE was mentioned more than once, and the winner of Best Entertainment Producer (and Pod Bible columnist!) Meera Kumar thanked the Multitrack Fellowship for her break into the industry.

Best Entertainment Producer – Meera Kumar – courtesy of Audio UK

Carousel Radio were the winners of the Grassroots Production award, and used their acceptance speech to talk about the importance of having media for and by people with learning disabilities. And I loved seeing Best Narrator go to Tracy Wiles for her work on Fits and Starts by Franziska Thomas for my own reasons.

The Audio Production Awards were such a good insight to audio production as an industry – both as it is now, and how it could be in the future. Congratulations to all the winners!

The Winners:

Best Arts & Culture Producer

GOLD – Geoff Bird (Freelance)
SILVER – Steven Rajam (Overcoat Media)
BRONZE – Lyndsay Fenner & Victoria Lloyd (Storyglass)

Nominees

Hannah Dean (Falling Tree Productions)
Hannah Hufford (BBC Audio)
Victoria Ferran  (Just Radio)

Best News & Current Affairs Producer

GOLD – James Shield (The Times and The Sunday Times)
SILVER – Taryn Siegel (The Times and The Sunday Times)
BRONZE – Ruth Abrahams (Freelance / The Guardian)

Nominees

Ant Adeane (Freelance)
Daniel Rosney (BBC Newsbeat)
Edward Drummond (The Times and The Sunday Times)

Best Entertainment Producer

GOLD – Meera Kumar – (Freelance)
SILVER – Adem Waterman (Absolute Radio)
BRONZE – Lorna Skingley (7digital)

Nominees

Lucy Dearlove (Storyglass)
Ore Olukoga (TBI Media)
Victoria Ferran (Just Radio)

Best New Producer sponsored by BBC Sounds

GOLD – Redzi Bernard (Falling Tree Productions)
SILVER – Julian Maclurg (Freelance)
BRONZE – Pippa Smith (Novel)
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Talia Augustidis (Message Heard)

Nominees

Charlotte North (Whistledown)
Rufaro Faith Mazarura (Audio Always)

Best Presenter sponsored by The Podcast Show

GOLD – Danny Robins (Bafflegab Productions)
SILVER – John Sweeney (Chalk and Blade)
BRONZE – Claudia Winkleman (TBI Media)

Nominees

Axel Kacoutié (Falling Tree Productions)
Elis James and John Robins (Audio Always)
Rob Beckett (TBI Media)

Best Factual Producer sponsored by In:Quality

GOLD – Axel Kacoutié
SILVER – Joshua Kelly (The Guardian)
BRONZE – Eva Krysiak (Freelance)

Nominees

Kate Taylor (Audible)
Redzi Bernard (Falling Tree Productions)
Russell Finch (Wondery)

Best Sports Producer

GOLD – Chessie Bent (TBI Media)
SILVER – Olly Clink (talkSPORT)
BRONZE – Joel Grove (Guardian News and Media)
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Isabel Minter (talkSPORT)

Nominees

Adonis Pratsides (The Athletic)
Christian Hewgill (BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat)

Gethin Thomas Award for Best Comedy Producer

GOLD – Matt Thomas (Audio Always)
SILVER – Gus Beattie (Gusman Productions)
BRONZE – David Tyler (Pozzitive)

Nominees

Ed Morrish (Lead Mojo Productions)
Gwyn Rhys Davies (BBC Studios)
Kurt Brookes (Made In Manchester)

Best Music Producer

GOLD – Arthur Hagues (Prison Radio Association)
SILVER – Jack Howson
BRONZE – Katie Callin (Reduced Listening)

Nominees

Helen Weatherhead (Audio Always)
Keana Bernard (BBC Audio)
Nate Goodman (We Are Grape)

Best Audiobook Producer

GOLD – Laura-Leigh Smith (String and Tins for Audible)
SILVER – Chris Thompson (Penguin Random House)
BRONZE – David Beck (Wireless Theatre for Audible)
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Lily Ridett (Freelance)

Nominees

Kathleen Moroney (Red Apple Creative for Audible)
Tanya Hougham (HarperCollins Publishers)

Best Narrator

GOLD – Tracy Wiles (Almost Tangible)
SILVER – Julie Hesmondhalgh (HarperCollins)
BRONZE – Tom Alexander (HarperCollins)
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Minnie Driver (Bonnier Books UK)

Nominees

Andy Serkis (HarperCollins)
Kristin Atherton (Penguin Random House)

Best Lifestyle & Society Producer (NEW) sponsored by BetterHelp

GOLD – Lina Prestwood (Scenery Studios)
SILVER – Sangeeta Pillai (Soul Sutras)
BRONZE – Andrew Gold (On the Edge with Andrew Gold)

Nominees

Anouszka Tate (Freelance)
Selina Ream (Somethin’ Else)
Sylvie Carlos (Unedited)

Best Ensemble Cast

GOLD – Joelah, Keke & DJ Silk (1Xtra’s Throwback Party)
SILVER – Kat Anderson & Natalia Anderson (Expat Immigrant Podcast)
BRONZE – Helen Brown, Terri Sweeney, Emma Goswell & Beena Khetani (Effin Hormones)

Nominees

Elis James &. John Robins (Audio Always)
Kim Davis & Raffaella Coleman (The Scene)
William Hanson & Jordan North (Audio Always)

Best New Voice sponsored by BBC Sounds

GOLD – Lianne Sanderson (talkSPORT)
SILVER – Cara McGoogan (The Telegraph)
BRONZE – Talia Augustidis (Message Heard)

Nominees

Afrodeutsche (Reform Radio)
Lily Baldwin (Audible)
Peter Waring (Whistledown)

Best Branded Sound Producer

GOLD – Luke Berry (BBC Popular Music Station Sound)
SILVER – Adam Venton (Little Monster Media)
BRONZE – Chris Nicoll (WIZZFX)

Nominees

Ali Rezakhani (BBC Sounds)
Kenny Southavy (ReelWorld)
Sam Parker (WIZZFX)

Best Sound Design Producer

GOLD – Axel Kacoutié (Freelance)
SILVER – Benbrick
BRONZE – Kit Milsom (Mags Creative)

Nominees

Hannah Dean (Falling Tree Productions)
John Wakefield (Audible)
Steve Urquhart (Freelance)

Best Drama & Fiction Producer

GOLD – Andrew Mark Sewell (B7 Media)
SILVER – Barnaby Eaton-Jones & Ian Haig (Idea Hat Productions)
BRONZE – Melanie Harris (Sparklab Productions)

Nominees

Celia de Wolff (Pier Productions)
Jacqueline Rayner (Big Finish Productions)
Nicolas Jackson (Afonica)

AudioUK Award

UK Audio Network (UKAN)

Grassroots Production Awards sponsored by The Podcasting Seriously Awards Fund

GOLD – Carousel
SILVER – Vic Elizabeth Turnbull (MIC Media)
BRONZE – Modus Arts (Tape Letters)

Nominees

Boz Temple
Morris & Fin Kennedy (The Waves)
Miranda Rae (Afrikan Queens)
Steve Urquhart (Doing Bird)

The Sustainability Award (NEW)

GOLD – The Long Time Academy (Scenery Studios 8)
SILVER – Lucia Scazzocchio (Wild Eye)
BRONZE – Resonance FM

Nominees

Jo Kennedy & Cathy Shaw (Nature Tripping)
Loftus Media (Funghi: The New Frontier)

Reform Radio Producer of the Year (NEW)

GOLD – Steve Urquhart (Freelance)
SILVER – Hana Walker-Brown (Broccoli Productions / Freelance)
BRONZE – Jon Holmes (unusual)
HIGHLY COMMENDED – Jack Howson

Nominees

Hannah Dean (Falling Tree Productions)
Victoria Ferran (Just Radio)

Publisher or Network of the Year (NEW)

GOLD – Resonance FM
SILVER – Mags Creative
BRONZE – Fun Kids

Nominees

Crowd Network
Sky News
talkSPORT

Production Company of the Year sponsored by Radiocentre

GOLD – Reduced Listening
SILVER – Unedited
BRONZE – Whistledown

Nominees

Holy Mountain
TBI Media
We Are Grape

The post The Audio Production Awards 2022 – The Winners appeared first on POD BIBLE.

It’s been quite the year for OUTCAST UK. It started with going viral on TikTok, and has continued with awards success for the podcast itself. It won The British Podcast Award for possibly the most-contested category – Best New Podcast. As we know, there have been a LOT of new podcasts this year, so it’s an incredible achievement for an independent show to outdo them all.

Hosted by the podcaster and broadcaster Graeme Smith, the show shares in-depth interviews with a mix of well known and up and coming broadcasters, artists, podcasters, musicians, influencers and academics. The judges at the BPAs stated that “There was no doubt the guests felt safe and heard”, and we agree. This really is the power of podcasts that are created by communities, for communities. OUTCAST UK might be the hottest new LGBTQ+ podcast, but there is plenty there for allies to learn from as well.

We asked Graeme about the show.

Host Graeme Smith with his British Podcast Award

Congratulations on the BPA win! How do you feel?

I didn’t believe it when they announced the winner! The podcast came pretty close at the ARIAS earlier in the summer and it didn’t happen so I didn’t think it would this time. My mate Joe came to the awards ceremony with me and had to literally push me to stand up and walk to the stage. I felt incredibly proud that without any corporate backing or much of a marketing budget the podcast managed to get such recognition. I’m a one man production team. The podcast at this point was literally me just talking to people I like and respect about their incredible lives and experiences. It was a real moment of realising that yes, people are noticing and it was incredible. In summary I feel like my work has been validated by the best of my peers and that’s everything really.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

The old Ricky Gervais podcasts (before the transphobia)… the stuff they then animated for TV. My tastes have since evolved! This and the standard Radio 4 newsy stuff the BBC has always knocked out would have been the first podcasts I engaged with. But I had always been a listener to speech radio … Radio 4 / LBC and even the more crazy late night phone in stuff my entire life.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

The freedom to be long form, nuanced and authentic. I have mainly worked in formatted commercial radio most of my adult life, this was a chance to make something totally different, using the skills I had spent years crafting. I also had a never ending supply of stories to tell about the real lives of LGBTQ+ people and to talk about experiences in my own life and and this was the medium to do it. I wanted to tell my story through the stories of the people I spoke to. They say what I can’t or won’t say quite often. I feel like my previous few attempts at podcasts, documentary producing and speech broadcasting had been teaching me everything I needed to know to make OUTCAST UK work. I want this to become a platform people can come to for LGBTQ content that isn’t just aimed at the same white cisgender gay men. I’m bored of them. This is a deliberate attempt to diversify the range of voices and perspectives available and still make great content that has a social impact.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

OUTCAST UK is a bit of a mix, it’s inclusive, it’s current, its issues based, it gets political … But also outrageously funny sometimes. It can morph into whatever it needs to be, so my influences are very varied and reflect that.

The newsagents lately has been inspiringly brilliant lately. It’s hard not to soak it in. I loved the Battersea Poltergeist last year on BBC Sounds it opened my eyes to how to tell a story and at times almost defied a fixed format. The brilliant James O’Brien in his formidable delivery and his analysis. I loved what The Log Books podcasts did for accessible LGBTQ+ history and storytelling. I also think that in terms of increasing general podcast awareness the juggernaut formats of the Joe Rogan Experience and Diary of a CEO are impressive. This is how social video is done for podcasts. It sets the agenda and grows awareness… which is vital.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

Right now I think DJ Fat Tony, just for the incredible stories that are sometimes outrageous, sometimes incredibly moving. I’ve been talking to him about coming on and hopefully that’s happening soon.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Be honest with yourself. Make the stuff that YOU think is good. You literally can beat the big boys with the right idea.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

It’s got to be Series 2, Ep 2. Me and Nick Charles with a chat that’s as honest and outrageous as it is funny featuring a frank exchange about when we had both done sex work in the past. The reaction on social media was intense. I was able to tell Nick for the first time that I had been forced into sex work when I was unemployed with a near fatal drugs problem about a decade ago… the twist was that it had been IN HIS APARTMENT (this was before he lived there). This episode sums up the conversations and issues the show is all about, it’s very honest and I’ve listened back and it still makes me laugh a lot. Me and Nick still say we couldn’t do this episode again if we tried! It’s in full video podcast glory on Spotify if you’re interested.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

It’s @playoutcastuk on Insta and TikTok.

Playoutcastuk.com has all our links.

Find me on Insta @mrgraemesmith.

Listen to OUTCAST UK on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps, or search OUTCAST UK wherever you get your podcasts.

The post Indy podcasts making waves at the BPAs: OUTCAST UK appeared first on POD BIBLE.

With inspiration taken from the work and stories that have come from Switchboard, an LGBT+ helpline that’s been in operation since 1974, The Log Books podcast has had quite an auspicious start. Natasha Walker, co-chair at Switchboard and producer of The Log Books, chats to us once again about re-opening the Logbooks for season 2 of the show.

So, what’s it been like making the podcast?

We absolutely loved working on The Log Books podcast. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, reading and listening to all these amazing stories and memories. We have all learnt so much about LGBTQ+ history, which is of course our history with all three of us (Producers – Tash, Adam and Shivani) identifying as LGBTQ+. I think it would be fair to say that this is one of the best things we have ever worked on and Season Two has been even better! We started as colleagues but are now the best of friends!

From left to right, Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Smith from The Log Books podcast celebrating their British Podcast Awards win.

It may not have been a surprise to many of us – but it did prove to be a shock for the team – The Log Books won Best New Podcast at the British Podcast Awards.

It was so amazing! We were completely overwhelmed and not expecting it at all, when they announced we had won and then the doorbell rang we just didn’t know what to do. It felt so amazing to win the Best New Podcast 2020 award not only because we are all independent podcasters and freelancers, but also because we are sharing LGBTQ+ history, which is so often ignored and untold. To have the podcast recognised as the Best New Podcast of 2020 meant so much to us and shows a really positive shift in society – this isn’t just Britain’s LGBTQ+ history, it’s Britain’s history full stop.

Can you give us a bit of a recap of what the podcast is about and what’s in the first season?

The Log Books is a podcast all about the history of LGBTQ+ life in Britain as noted by volunteers at the helpline Switchboard. Each episode centres around log book entries made by the volunteers who staffed the phones from the charity’s very first day. As a helpline for anyone who wants to talk about gender identity and sexuality, Switchboard has been hearing about, and helping, queer life since 1974. We have spoken to over 50 contributors for the podcast, who have memories and lived experiences of the themes we cover. Season One covered 1974 to 1982, with stories ranging from police entrapping gay men meeting for sex in toilets, to women losing custody of their children for being lesbians, to people kicked out of pubs for wearing pro-gay badges and those struggling with their gender identity before anyone had the right language to help them.

The log books laugh and cry with the real lives of runaways and disco-dancers, with isolated fishermen phoning to chat and people unsure about how to have sex.

The first Switchboard log book – photo by Imogen Forte, Switchboard’s Archive at Bishopsgate Institute

Given the subject matter, there may have been an inevitability to a second season. Thankfully we do have one! What can we hear in this much awaited second season?

Season Two runs through the years 1983 to 1991 and takes up eleven episodes, including a three-part series focusing on the HIV/AIDS crisis. As the country was gripped by growing HIV infections, calls to Switchboard reached unprecedented volumes and intensity. The log books at Switchboard are a unique chronicle of this major health crisis — containing stories from those years that have never been told before.

In this season you hear interviews with patients and healthcare professionals, such as Leigh, a young gay man who began caring for people with AIDS-defining illnesses as soon as he started to work as a nurse.

Also, long-term survivors with difficult but uplifting stories, such as the life-affirming wisdom of George who has spent 35 years trying to keep his infection at bay by calling it ‘sleeping dragon’.

A Switchboard volunteer on a call – photo courtesy of Switchboard’s Archive at Bishopsgate Institute

We also have memories of Switchboard volunteers who took the hardest calls and faced down people who did not want to step into the Switchboard offices for fear of ‘catching AIDS’.

But so much more than a health crisis happened from 1983 to 1991. Britain’s LGBTQ+ communities felt more and more under attack from tabloids and social hostility, with Margaret Thatcher’s government capitalising on this by passing legislation that banned the “promotion of homosexuality”. We’ll hear from a young lesbian teacher, Catherine, whose students scratched insults into her car, and others who were watching the Six O’Clock News when lesbian activists invaded the BBC studio to call for an end to persecution. Other stories in the season include migration to the UK of people fleeing more homophobic countries, state clampdowns on obscenity including a Customs raid on a bookshop, and how Switchboard volunteers used humour to get through these dark times.

Adam Smith, Shivani Dave, Tash Walker, producers of The Log Book – photo by Imogen Forte

What’s the reaction been like to the podcast, both from audiences and also from you all who work on the show?

It’s been so positive, which means so much to us and it’s wonderful to hear people’s thoughts, see their reviews online and read their messages. We felt a real responsibility to not only share this LGBTQ+ history, but also do justice to all the wonderful contributors we interviewed who shared their memories and all those who have called and volunteered for Switchboard. We wouldn’t be here today because of them, their lives and stories live on in the log books and now in the podcast too.

Like any cause and podcast with a social conscience, finding new audiences is key, so why do we all need to listen and take part in this conversation?

As a society we all have to strive to be better allies, to not make the same mistakes that we have made in the past, to learn to evolve so that we move towards a more equal society for all. Looking back through the log books, we learn so much about how the LGBTQ+ communities have got to where we are today, the discrimination, the victimisation, the love, the support, the strength – it’s all part of who we are today, as queer people, as allies, as people. You have to learn from the past, to understand what community, allyship and support really mean. The stories will make you laugh, cry and some… from sex, to police raids, to censorship – it’s all there!

Find season one and two of The Log Books on Acast, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts from.

The post Re-opening The Log Books with Natasha Walker appeared first on POD BIBLE.