The Audio Production Awards 2022 – The Winners

Last night I went down to the Audio Production Awards 2022, which took place at the BFI in London. Pod Bible were Media Partners for the event, and I was handing out a few magazines to folks (say ‘hi’ if you have one!). But I was mostly there to experience the night.

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