This is a write-up of a Publisher Masterclass we held about how to write an award-winning entry to the Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Awards. The advice here is just for Media Voices’ awards and our judging process; we cannot advise on other award programmes.
We launched the Publisher Podcast Awards back in 2019 as we could see many publishers were launching podcasts and wanted to celebrate that work. There’s a great deal at stake when an established brand branches into a new area or product. With our own backgrounds in publishing, we understand the complexities and considerations. The Publisher Newsletter Awards followed in 2023, following the same blueprint.
These Award programmes are niche. It’s harder each year to define what a publisher is. But wherever possible, we keep that definition tight; there are plenty of podcast awards for non-publishers, and we need to maintain the value to our publisher community.
Our goal for both the Podcast and Newsletter awards is to share the lessons from the best examples, and help others improve their products and strategies. This is where our Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Summits come in, which we’d urge you to look at as they’re tailored just for people like you.
Ultimately our aim is to help everyone make award-winning podcasts and newsletters.
The most important point is that we’ve tried to make the process as fair as possible. It’s not just the big publishers that win; we’ve had indies and start-up publications win too with brilliant podcasts and newsletters.
Our mark scheme has been carefully refined alongside the judges – many of whom have been with us for years – to balance not just the quality of the product, but the strategy behind them. Understanding the way the Awards are judged can be really helpful in crafting an entry to support your product.
The judging process
Firstly, a poor podcast or newsletter won’t win no matter how comprehensive the written entry is. But a good podcast or newsletter can definitely be let down by a sparse entry.
The marking criteria follows the questions asked on entry. The majority of the marks are weighted to the why and how rather than the podcast or newsletter itself.
The scheme below is for the Content Categories, with variations on weighting for others like Commercial Strategy.
Marking criteria – the podcast or newsletter
- Enjoyment (/10)
- A lot more goes into a [podcast/newsletter] than just technical excellence. Marks here can be given for how much you enjoyed the [podcast/newsletter]. While the subject matter may not necessarily appeal, a good [podcast/newsletter] should be able to engage and hold attention regardless of topic.
- Quality (/10)
- Is the [podcast/newsletter] clear? Has it been well edited and put together? Please give your marks out of 10 for the production quality of the [podcast/newsletter].
Marking criteria – the publisher
- Objectives met (/10)
- How well does the [podcast/newsletter] itself meet the objectives set out by the publisher at the start?
- Strategic alignment (/10)
- How well does the [podcast/newsletter] align with the publisher or brand it’s associated with? If it’s a standalone [podcast/newsletter], how does it fit in with the publisher’s wider aims?
- Marketing and growth (/10)
- Growing an audience is vital to sustaining a [podcast/newsletter] long term, so this is your chance to assess marketing and growth strategies, and their relative success.
Finding balance
This is certainly a different emphasis to many other awards. But we’ve seen over the years ceremonies being dominated by a few big players with huge budgets. The difference with us is that we don’t see attracting a vast audience as the single most important criteria. The strategy and process you’ve undergone as publishers is a vital part of the puzzle.
Publishers have a lot at stake when launching or continuing a podcast or newsletter. The audience already has expectations, there are internal stakeholders to engage, and vital decisions to make about whether it’s a marketing tool, retention play, for community engagement and more. We want to recognise and celebrate the behind-the-scenes strategies of these products as well as the output.
Questions and tips
A few quick pointers on common questions for reassurance!
- This isn’t a writing competition – it isn’t about maxing the word count or perfect prose. Bullet points are fine – think about being taught to PEE in school! Point, Evidence, Explanation.
- We aren’t going to penalise if answers sound suspiciously ChatGPT-like; again this isn’t a writing competition. Just be careful about what data you’re putting into it; accuracy is vital.
- You don’t have to share sensitive commercial details or listener numbers. If you can, this will only be seen by the Media Voices admin and the judges for that category. But if not, think about other ways success or growth can be measured, for example, this marketing strategy helped us grow by 20%.
Some final top tips:
- Even if you don’t win, please don’t be discouraged. Shortlisting is a huge achievement
- We pass on judges’ feedback on all shortlisted entries (just ask a few days after the ceremony). Some of our winners from last year had been entering since we launched, and had iterated and improved on many years of feedback. It was a real thrill for us to see them finally take home trophies.
- Come to the Publisher Newsletter Summit (Tuesday 10th June before the Newsletter Awards) and Publisher Podcast Summit (Wednesday 11th June before the Podcast Awards) to learn from previous award-winners and leading publishers in the space. The code MASTERCLASS20 applied at checkout will get you a discount on top of any existing date-based discounts.
