The Ambies (or the Awards for Excellence in Audio) are awards for artistic and technical merit in the podcast industry. They are awarded by The Podcast Academy in two overall categories: Show Recognition and Talent Recognition. The winners, who receive a gold statue holding a microphone and wearing headphones, are selected by a vote from Podcast Academy members. The awards and the Podcast Academy were established in 2020 with the inaugural ceremony held on May 16, 2021, hosted by Cameron Esposito.[1]
Third annual Ambies award ceremony
History
In February 2020, Hernan Lopez at Wondery announced that he and 10 peers had established a new non-profit group called the Podcast Academy. The Podcast Academy is a member-based professional organization for podcasters. It was modeled after other similar institutions in the entertainment industry with the intention of establishing an independent industry award for podcasting, initially called the Golden Mics.[2]
When the Podcast Academy announced plans to hold the first award ceremony amidst the awards season of other entertainment areas, the name was changed to the Awards for Excellence in Audio, nicknamed the Ambies, and award was revealed to be a gold statue holding a microphone and wearing headphones.[3] The term Ambies was derived from ambient sound, which is frequently used in audio recordings, and it has a similar sound to other awards such as the Emmys and Grammys.[4]
Selection process
Nominations are first recommended for consideration within a submission window, and then narrowed down to an official list of nominees for voting.[3] A minimum of three episodes published in the award year are required to be eligible for consideration. From those recommendations, a panel of Podcast Academy members listen to podcasts for a period of time before selecting the nominees for voting in each category.[4] Members of the Podcast Academy are organized into peer groups in order to vote on the winners from the selected nominees, which are announced at the live ceremony.[3][4]
Statuette
Ambie Statuette
The Ambie statuette is an art deco gold figurine wearing headphones and holding a microphone atop a black base. Its minimalist design is inspired by the Academy Award, in keeping with the Podcast Academy's vision of establishing the Ambies as the "Oscars of podcasting." The statuette is designed and produced by Cristaux International.[5][6]
2021 Awards
The first annual Ambies occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, and were conducted virtually.[7] The ceremony was livestreamed on May 16, 2021, and was hosted by Cameron Esposito. [5]
The second annual Ambies were held at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles on May 22, 2022, and hosted by Ross Matthews and Nikki Boyer. The category "Best Indie Podcast" was also introduced, to recognize shows that were not commissioned by a major network or studio.[8][9]
Podcasts
Podcast of the Year
9/12 – (winner)
A Slight Change of Plans
Alligator Candy
Believe Her
Bill Simmons Podcast
Earth Eclipsed
False Idol
Have You Heard George's Podcast?
Hooked
The Imperfection
Best Documentary Podcast
Stay Away From Matthew MaGill – (winner)
AMERICAN VETERAN: Unforgettable Stories
CBC Podcasts: Life Jolt
Embedded
Fiasco: Benghazi
On Our Watch
Post Reports
Best Interview Podcast
70 over 70 – (winner)
Billie Was a Black Woman
I WEIGH
Jemele Hill is Unbothered
Profoundly Pointless
The Problem With Jon Stewart
Trafficked With Mariana van Zeller
Best Comedy Podcast
How Did This Get Made? – (winner)
Best Friends
Nosy Neighbors
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition
The Sarah Silverman Podcast
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
Why Won't You Date Me With Nicole Byer
Best News Podcast
Up First – (winner)
60 Minutes
Consider This
Post Reports
Start Here
The Journal
The Times
Best Sports Podcast
Up First – (winner)
60 Minutes
Consider This
Post Reports
Start Here
The Journal
The Times
Best True Crime Podcast
Suspect – (winner)
Believe Her
Confronting: Columbine
Criminal
Do You Know Mordechai?
Firebug
Over My Dead Body: Fox Lake
Best Business Podcast
Business Wars – (winner)
An Arm and a Leg
Masters of Scale
Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
Planet Money
The Indicator from Planet Money
The McKinsey Podcast
Best Fiction Podcast
Tejana – (winner)
Black Box
Orphan Black: The Next Chapter
Princess of South Beach
The Miseducation of John Mark
The Zip Code Plays: Los Angeles
Treat
Best History Podcast
Slow Burn: The L.A. Riots – (winner)
Black Cowboys
Human Resources
Making Gay History — The Podcast | Season 9: “Coming of Age During the AIDS Crisis”
Mogul
Telling Our Twisted Histories
Throughline
Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
Overheard at National Geographic – (winner)
Dope Labs
Music Blocks
Road to Resilience
Ted Radio Hour
The Extortion Economy
Twenty Thousand Hertz
Best Society and Culture Podcast
Billie Was a Black Woman – (winner)
Cheat!
Ear Hustle
Heavyweight
Higher Learning With Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay
Storytime with Seth Rogen – Seth Rogen, Richard Parks III, Frida Perez
Throughline – Rund Abdelfatah, Ramtin Arablouei, Julie Caine, Laine Kaplan-Levenson
Best Production and Sound Design
Billie Was a Black Woman – (winner)
Can He Do That?
Pod Save the World
Post Reports
Skullduggery
Stay Tuned With Preet
The Messenger
Best Original Score and Music Supervision
9/12 – (winner)
Have You Heard George's Podcast?
The Duolingo French Podcast
Operation Midnight Climax
Carcerem
Great Grief
Gravity
Best Performer in Audio Fiction
Edith! – Rosamund Pike – (winner)
Aftershock – David Harbour
Date With Daddy – Marisa Grant
Melon's House Party – Parvesh Cheena & Jessica McKenna
Passenger List – Kelly Marie Tran
Radio Rental – Rainn Wilson
We Stay Looking – Full Cast Including: Terri J. Vaughn, Karrueche Tran, Marsai Martin, Kandi Burruss, Amin Joseph, Desi Banks, Kyla Pratt, Jason Weaver, Kev On Stage, Kway, Karlous Miller, Tristen Winger, Max Greenfield and more.
Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas from Slate – (winner)
50 Years of Hip-Hop from KEXP
Can You Dig It?: A Hip-Hop Origin Story
Ghost Story
Embedded: Taking Cover from NPR
Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University from Wondery
Ghost Story from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios
Next Year in Moscow from The Economist
Questlove Supreme from iHeartPodcasts
The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop from the Washington Post
The Very Worst THing That Could Possibly Happen from Wolf At The Door
Best Documentary Podcast
Ghost Story – (winner)
Borrowed and Banned
Embedded: Taking Cover
Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin
Free From Desire: Asexual in the City of Love
King Slime: The Prosecution of Young Thug and YSL
Show Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas
Best Interview Podcast
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus – (winner)
Alexi Lalas' State of the Union Podcast
Apple News In Conversation
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Questlove Supreme
The Skinny Confidential: Him & Her Podcast
Your Mama's Kitchen
Best Comedy Podcast
How Did This Get Made? – (winner)
Bad Dates
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Let's Make a Rom-Com
Lovett or Leave It
The Big Flop
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Best News Podcast
Today, Explained – (winner)
Odd Lots
Queer News
Start Here
The Decibel
Tug of War: Israel-Hamas War
Up First
Best Sports Podcast
New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce – (winner)
All the Smoke
Four Years of Heat
Heart of the Game
Reclaimed: The Forgotten League
The Lead
The Playcallers
Best True Crime Podcast
The Girlfriends – (winner)
Disappeared: The Bradley Sisters
Heinous – An Asian True Crime Podcast
Smoke Screen: Just Say You're Sorry
The Girl in the Blue Mustang
The Vanishing Point
Who Killed JFK?
Best Business Podcast
Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried – (winner)
Behind the Money
Good Bad Billionaire
How I Built This Podcast with Guy Raz
Lever Time with David Sirota
Money Stuff
NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Best Fiction Podcast
PREVIA: A Tech Heist – (winner)
Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance
Midnight Burger
People Who Knew Me
Possession
Supreme: The Battle for Roe
The Foxes of Hydesville
Best History Podcast
Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children – (winner)
Hindsight
History's Secret Heroes
Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal
The Africas vs. America
This is History: A Dynasty to Die For
Untextbooked
Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
Darknet Diaries – (winner)
Decoder with Nilay Patel
In Machines We Trust
IRL: Online Life Is Real Life
Threshold
Unexplainable
Why It Matters
Best Society and Culture Podcast
Weight For It – (winner)
Can You Dig It?: A Hip-Hop Origin Story with Chuck D
Dear Alana,
Dynamite Doug
Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University
ROS Presents: Roughhousing
The Story Exchange
Best Politics or Opinion Podcast
The NPR Politics Podcast – (winner)
Bad Watchdog
National Emergency
Next Year in Moscow
Post Reports
Those Who Can't Teach Anymore
We DOn't Talk About Leonard
Best Entertainment Podcast
50 Years of Hip-Hop – (winner)
Creative Control
Films to Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein
HBO's The Last of Us Podcast
Movies vs. Capitalism
MUBI Podcast
Women of Marvel
Best Personal Growth/Spirituality Podcast
Dear Alana, – (winner)
Allyship Is a Verb
Back From Broken
How God Works
How to Be a Better Human
In the Arena With Leah Smart
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast
Embodied – (winner)
Big Lash Energy
Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
It Can't Just Be Me
Jillian on Love
Life Kit
Love Letters
Best DIY Podcast
STITCH PLEASE – (winner)
Allyship Is a Verb
Poetry for All
Proud Stutter
Stitch Please
Teddy Goes to the USSR
They Knew Which Way to Run
Best Indie Podcast
Weight For It – (winner)
Abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
BEEF with Bridget Todd
Dragoncast
Expectant
Surfing Corporate
The Nocturnists
Best Podcast for Kids
The Cat In The Hat Cast – (winner)
A Kids Book About: The Podcast
Forever Ago
Million Bazillion
Pinkalicious & Peterrific
Smash Boom Best
The Arthur Podcast
Podcasters and Talent
Best Podcast Host or Hosts
Martine Powers - The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop (winner)
Anderson Cooper – All There is with Anderson Cooper
Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson – Rachel Maddow Presents: Deja News
Malcom Gladwell – Revisionist History
Rose Reid and Nando Vila – Shoot the Messenger
Kerry Godliman – Stolen Hearts
David Rind – Tug of War: Israel-Hamas War
Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction
B.A Parker – Code Switch (winner)
Jonathan Menjivar - Classy with Jonathan Menjivar
Simon Kent Fung and Laurie Polisky - Dear Alana
Laura Beil - Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University
Jamie Tarabay and Shawn Wen - Foundering: The John McAfee Story
James Peak - The Banksy Story
David Hoffman - Who Killed JFK?
Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
PREVIA: A Tech Heist – (winner)
Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance
Possession
Supreme: The Battle for Roe
The Foxes of Hydesville
The Hollow
Best Production and Sound Design
Ramtin Arablouei, Rund Abdelfatah, Lawrence Wu, and Julie Caine – Throughline (winner)
Garrett Tiedemann - Chameleon: Dr. Dante
Sarah Ma, Neely Oeftering, Geoffrey Cannock, Jose Varon, Ben Milchev, David Tatasciore - Evergreen
Ryan Sweikert and Campside Media - Long Shadow: Rise of the American Far Right
Martin Schulz - People Who Knew Me
Alex Kemp and Beau Milkis - The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen
Undertow: The Sister
Best Reporting
Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children – (winner)
Embedded: Taking Cover
Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University
Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin
Smoke Screen: Just Say You're Sorry
Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
The 13th Step
Best Indie Production
Weight For It – (winner)
Abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
Allyship Is a Verb
Dragoncast
Expectant
Surfing Corporate
The Nocturnists
Special awards
Governor's Award: **This American Life**
Podcast Pioneer Award: **Kara Swisher**
2025 Awards
The fifth annual Ambies were held in Chicago on March 31, 2025, and hosted by Tig Notaro.[13] The Podcast Academy also introduced the new category of "Best Spanish Language Narrative Podcast".[13]
Podcasts
Podcast of the Year
Hysterical – (winner)
99% Invisible: Not Built For This
Beyond All Repair
Cement City
Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance
Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
Faraway
Fire Escape
Hot White Heist 2
Throughline
Best Documentary Podcast
Tested – (winner)
Extrasensory
Lost Patients
Silence in Sikeston
Snap Judgment
The Final War
Uganda's Hidden Rainbow
Best Interview Podcast
Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim – (winner)
American Masters: Creative Spark
Apple News In Conversation
Overlooked: Women's Health Can't Wait
The Assignment with Audie Cornish
The Integrated Schools Podcast
Tomorrow's Cure
Best Comedy Podcast
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang – (winner)
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Hot White Heist 2
Scam Goddess
SmartLess
We’re Here to Help
Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Joanne McNally Investigates
HUMO: Murder and Silence in El Salvador – (winner)
¡No Vengan!
Greal: El Secreto de las Ocho Llaves
Hechos Reales
No quieren que sepas
Pantallas & Mentiras [Screens & Lies]
Pétrea
Podcasters and Talent
Best Podcast Host
Ronald Young Jr. – Weight For It – (winner)
Diallo Riddle and Blake ‘LUXXURY’ Robin – One Song
Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach and Amanda Doyle – We Can Do Hard Things
Jon Stewart – The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
Rainn Wilson – Radio Rental
Sam Sanders – The Sam Sanders Show
Wesley Morris – The Wonder of Stevie
Best Reporting
Dan Taberski – Hysterical – (winner)
Chenjerai Kumanyika – Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD
Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison – Chameleon: The Michigan Plot
Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes – Backfired: Attention Deficit
Madeleine Baran, Samara Freemark, Parker Yesko, Natalie Jablonski, Rehman Tungekar, and Namak Khoshnaw – In the Dark Season 3: The Killings in Haditha
Nicky Woolf – Fur & Loathing
Sarah Holder, Caleb Melby and Polly Mosendz – Big Take
Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
Academy – Myha’la – (winner)
Don't Listen To This – Anthony Del Col
Faraway – Matthew Castellanos and Brett Melnick
Give Me Away – Mac Rogers
Incoming – David Singer and CK Pahlow
Money Gone – Ed Sellek
The Best Man's Ghostwriter – Matthew Starr
Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction
Reveal – Ashley Cleek and Al Letson – (winner)
Cement City – Erin Anderson, Jeanne Marie Laskas, and Michael Benoist
Fire Escape – Anna Sussman
Killer Psyche – Mary Celenza, Jayda Williams, Julie Berke, Ann Lew, Lisa Ammerman and Candice DeLong
Noble – Johnny Kaufman and Shaun Raviv
Radio Atlantic: Scripts – Ethan Brooks
Track Change – Liz Mak and James Boo
Best Production and Sound Design
Michelle Macklem – Girl v. Horse – (winner)
Casandra Tinajero and Andrés Bahena – Nocturno: Tales From The Shadows
Jeremy S. Bloom – Hot White Heist 2
Kenny Kusiak and George Drabing Hicks – The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi
Realm – Narcosis
Sagafilm and Skybound Entertainment – Impact Winter Season 3
Ted Bonnitt – Hindsight: The Day Before
Best Original Score and Music Supervision
Dan Leone – Ripple – (winner)
Daniel Lloyd-Evans, Louis Nanke-Mannell and Toby Matimong – Extrasensory
Deron Johnson – Dungeon Masters
Jonathan Pfarr, Carson Graham and Bobby Mota – Celebrity Pets
Peter Nashel, Ross Hopman, Gio Lobato, Dana Hom, Brad Fischer, Jordan Lieb, Lucas Villemur and Lindsay Dievert – Hammerless: A True Crime Podcast in a Fantasy World
Skyler Gerdeman, Martin Lynabel, Nicholas Alexander, Max O’Brien and Caroline Thornham – Kill List
Stro Elliot and Eric Gersen – Historical Records
Best Performer in Audio Fiction
Caitlin Stasey, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, David Yow, Caroline Morahan, Guinevere Turner, Elizabeth Halpern, Travis Harmon, Brad Griffith, James Bacon, Jameson Cush, Jonathan Shockley and Ayla Glass – The Skies Are Watching – (winner)
Bowen Yang, Cynthia Nixon, Shannon Woodward, Jane Lynch, Jesse James Keitel, Sarah Steele, Ian McKellen, Raul Esparza, Sara Ramírez, Joel Kim Booster, Bianca Del Rio, Cheyenne Jackson, Abbi Jacobson, Stephanie Beatriz, Katya Zamolodchikova, Trixie Mattel, Yvie Oddly, Jane Krakowski, Sandra Oh, and Tony Kushner – Hot White Heist 2
Fredi Bernstein, Cody Wilkins and Dana Domenick – The Box
