There are just two weeks to go until entries close for the first ever Publisher Podcast Awards.
With categories available from best entertainment podcast to best B2B and specialist podcast, the awards have attracted entries from a number of top publishers already.
To help those who might still be drafting their entries, here we have tips from some of our judges on what they’re looking for in an award-winning podcast.
Marverine Cole, Journalist and Broadcaster
As the Director of Undergraduate Journalism at Birmingham City University, Marverine has been busy launching the HuffPost Centre for Journalism at BCU, a pioneering partnership between the publisher and the university. She’s also an award-winning television new journalist and producer, and has some of her own podcasts, including the Fabulous Woman Podcast and Quintessential Voices.
“I’m looking for witty and knowledgeable hosts with captivating personalities. I want to see honesty and purity in the way the subject matter is tackled. And I’m looking for some expert knowledge of the subject matter – there’s got to be a point to the whole thing: whether it’s new voices tackling controversial subjects, to entertain or inform.”
Jim Foster, Head of ePublishing at Bauer
Jim launched Bauer’s ePublishing business in 2012 and has grown it to a specialist digital operating spanning 11 platforms, and over 100 native apps.
“I’ll be looking for a consistent structure, a high quality of content and how it enhances the brand for an award-winning podcast. It’s important to consider what the listener wants, and how the platform fits in with the print and web strategy. It should also have a good pace, and I’ll be looking to see if any attempts have been made to create a revenue stream, and if so, how?”
Laura Kelly Dunlop, PPA Scotland Business Manager
Laura has just finished up her first year as Director of the Edinburgh International Magazine Festival, a whole week dedicated to celebrating magazines in all their forms. When she’s not organising that or Magfest, she works as PPA Scotland’s business manager.
“There are a lot of podcasts out there. So for your podcast to be worth an award, it needs to do more than produce content of consistently excellent quality; it has to give me something of value that I can’t get elsewhere, a true reason to listen. The successful podcast, like the successful magazine, knows its audience. Entertain me. Inform me. Make me think.”
Jeremy Walters, Editor, What’s New in Publishing
Jeremy (or Jez as he’s popularly known) heads up industry analysis site What’s New in Publishing, overseeing their editorial content, the weekly newsletter, and their growing library of reports.
“I’m looking for a podcast that consumes my attention for the entire duration of each show. This is incredibly difficult to pull off, due to the abundance of distractions that make it all too easy to finish halfway through, skip to another episode, or simply move on. In order to have longevity, podcasts have to rivet a listener to the spot, each and every episode.”
Kalpana Fitzpatrick, Finance Editor, Hearst
Kalpana is Hearst’s Finance Editor across a number of their titles, from Good Housekeeping to Red, Prima and more. She launched the Financially Fabulous initiative last year to help women take control of their personal finances, and also founded mummymoneymatters.com as a personal finance title aimed at parents.
“When it comes to judging an award-winning podcast, I’ll be looking for consistent quality, structure, and most importantly, passion, and a lot of it! Listeners will feel it and enjoy your podcast more.”
Nick Flood, Managing Director, Digital at Dennis Publishing
Nick is the Managing Director of everything digital at Dennis Publishing, and has over 13 years’ experience in the industry. Day-to-day, he is responsible for all the product, technical and digital operations at Dennis.
“For an award-winning podcast, I’m looking for one that has shown genuine growth and engagement with its listeners whilst being commercially viable – no mean feat!”
The awards are open until 22nd November to podcasts from publishers that regularly release content in at least one other medium. For more information and to download the entry pack, see the Publisher Podcast Awards website.
