The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen, a fictional podcast from Wolf at the Door about a man who can write letters to his favorite deceased author, topped the Ambies 2024 nominations list with five nods, including podcast of the year.
Other contenders for the podcast of the year award include 50 Years of Hip-Hop (iHeart Podcasts), Can You Dig It?: A Hip-Hop Origin Story with Chuck D (Audible), Embedded: Taking Cover (NPR), Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University (Wondery), Ghost Story (Wondery, Pineapple Street Studios), Next Year In Moscow (The Economist) Questlove Supreme (iHeart Podcasts), Post Reports: The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop (Washington Post) and Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas (Slate)
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Last year, Campside Media and Sony Music Entertainment’s Chameleon: Wild Boys, a podcast uncovering the truth about two young men who fooled a small town and claimed to have been raised in the wilderness in British Columbia, took home the top honor.
The awards, presented by the Podcast Academy, include 192 nominees across 27 categories, as well as a governor’s award and an impact award. First-time nominees this year include 50 Years of Hip-Hop, Lovett or Leave It, New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce and Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. For the first time, the Podcast Academy also added a best Indie podcast host or hosts category.
The fourth annual ceremony will take place on March 26 at the JW Marriott LA Live Los Angeles.
“On behalf of The Podcast Academy, we congratulate all of this year’s remarkable nominees that have graced the podcasting world,” said Donald Albright, chairperson of TPA. “They embody the essence of excellence in audio storytelling, captivating audiences with their creativity, passion, and dedication. Here’s to the nominees who have elevated the art of podcasting to new heights, leaving an indelible mark on the industry.”
Full list of nominees:
Podcast of The Year
50 Years of Hip-Hop
Can You Dig It?: A Hip-Hop Origin Story with Chuck D
Embedded: Taking Cover
Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University
Ghost Story
Next Year In Moscow
Questlove Supreme
Post Reports: The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop
Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas
The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen
Best Business Podcast:
Access & Opportunity
Behind the Money
Decoder with Nilay Patel
Design Nerds Anonymous
Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
The Closer
Trustonomy
Best Comedy Podcast:
Bad Dates
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
How Did This Get Made?
Let’s Make A Rom-Com
Lovett or Leave It
The Big Flop
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
Best DIY Podcast:
Beans Without Boundaries
Beyond 6 Seconds
Black Is America
Culture Kids Podcast
Gooned
Latinx Can Podcast
STITCH PLEASE
Best Documentary Podcast:
Borrowed and Banned
Embedded: Taking Cover
Fever: The Hunt for Covid’s Origin
Free From Desire: Asexual in the City of Love
Ghost Story
King Slime: The Prosecution of Young Thug and YSL
Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas
Best Entertainment Podcast (Sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter):
50 Years of Hip-Hop
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 Fiction Podcast
Midnight Burger
People Who Knew Me
Possession
PREVIA: A Tech Heist
Supreme: The Battle for Roe
The Foxes of Hydesville
The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen
Best History Podcast:
Hindsight
History’s Secret Heroes
Spy Valley: An Engineer’s Nuclear Betrayal
The Africas vs. America
This is History: A Dynasty to Die For
Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children
Untextbooked
Best Indie Podcast (Sponsored by Tenderfoot TV):
Abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
BEEF with Bridget Todd
Dragoncast
Expectant
Surfing Corporate
The Nocturnists
Weight For It
Best Indie Podcast Host or Hosts
Ali Block, MD – The Nocturnists
Ami Thakkar – Tuckered Out with Ami Thakkar
Emma Lehman – Gooned
Jill Jonassen – The Cost of Extremism
Molly Miller – Night Raid
Ronald Young Jr. – Weight For It
Sequoia Holmes – Black People Love Paramore
Best Interview Podcast:
Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast
Apple News In Conversation
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Questlove Supreme
The Skinny Confidential
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Your Mama’s Kitchen
Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast:
Big Deep – An Ocean Podcast
Darknet Diaries
Moral Repair: A Black Exploration of Tech
To the Best of Our Knowledge: Luminous
Unexplainable
Voices from DARPA
Without
Best News Podcast:
Odd Lots: Pot Lots
Queer News
Start Here
The Decibel
Today, Explained
Tug of War: Israel-Hamas War
Up First
Best Original Score and Music Supervision:
Calm it Down – Chad Lawson
Can You Dig It?: A Hip-Hop Origin Story with Chuck D – Bryan Master
Louder Than A Riot – Suzi Analogue, Kassa Overall, and Ramtin Arablouei
Next Year In Moscow
Othello – Lindsay Jones
The Cat In The Hat Cast – Jack Mitchell
The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen – Alex Kemp
Best Performance in Audio Fiction
Hidden Signal: Evergreen – Lana Condor
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol – Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Lucy Punch, Ben Barnes, Juliet Mills, Ryan O’Quinn, Bethany Joy Lenz, Clive Standen, Maxwell Caulfield
Supreme: The Battle for Roe – Maya Hawke, William H. Macy, Abigail Breslin, et al.
The Foxes of Hydesville – Carey Mulligan
The Salvation – Rose Leslie, Toby Jones, Robert Bathurst, et al.
The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen – Antonia Desplat, Isaac Gonzalez Rossi Yvette Lu, et al.
Yes We Cannabis – Sam Richardson, Method Man, Langston Kerman, Punkie Johnson, Richard Kind, Laci Mosley, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Heidi Gardner, Tichina Arnold, Tim Meadows, Rachel Dratch, Chris Parnell
Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast:
Dear Alana,
How to Be a Better Human
Meditative Story
Moral Repair: A Black Exploration of Tech
Ritually
Second Sunday
SOL Affirmations with Felicia & Karega
Best Podcast for Kids:
African Folktales with Miss Jo Jo
Disney Frozen: Forces of Nature
Greeking Out
Mina & Lucy’s Guide to Slaying Dracula
Sesame Street – Foley & Friends Season 3
The Arthur Podcast
The Cat In The Hat Cast
Best Podcast Host or Hosts:
Anderson Cooper – All There Is with Anderson Cooper
David Rind – Tug of War: Israel-Hamas War
Isaac-Davy Aronson & Rachel Maddow – Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News
Kerry Godliman – Stolen Hearts
Martine Powers – Post Reports: The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop
Malcolm Gladwell – Revisionist History
Rose Reid & Nando Vila – Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder & Pegasus Spyware
Best Politics or Opinion Podcast:
Bad Watchdog
National Emergency
Next Year In Moscow
Post Reports
The NPR Politics Podcast
Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore
We Don’t Talk About Leonard
Best Production and Sound Design (Dolby)
Chameleon: Dr. Dante – Garrett Tiedemann
Hidden Signal: Evergreen – Geoffrey Cannock, Jose Varon, The Audio Hive, Neely Oeftering, Sarah Ma, David Tatasciore, Ben Milchev
Long Shadow
People Who Knew Me – Martin Schulz
The Very Worst Thing that Could Possibly Happen – Alex Kemp and Beau Milkis
Throughline
Undertow: The Sisters
Best Reporting:
Dear Alana, – Simon Kent Fung
Imperfect Paradise: People vs. Karen
Murder In Boston: The Untold Story of the Charles and Carol Stuart Shooting – Adrian Walker
Operation: Tradebom
Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder & Pegasus Spyware
The 13th Step – Lauren Chooljian
The Blog Era
Best Scriptwriting, Fiction:
Ad Lucem – Troian Bellisario, Josh Close
Expectant – Pippa Johnstone
Hidden Signal: Evergreen – Chloe Stearns, John Wynn
Pariah – Davy Gardner
The Foxes of Hydesville – Shawn Christensen
Trust Fall – Claire Friedman
Zoey’s Mythical Menagerie – Leigh Joel Scott
Best Scriptwriting, Nonfiction:
Classy with Jonathan Menjivar – Jonathan Menjivar
Code Switch – B.A Parker
Dear Alana, – Simon Kent Fung, Laurie Polisky, Donald Albright
Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University – Laura Beil
Foundering: The John McAfee Story
The Banksy Story – James Peak
Who Killed JFK? – David Hoffman
Best Society and Culture Podcast:
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
Weight For It
Best Sports Podcast:
All the Smoke
Four Years of Heat
Heart of the Game
New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce
Reclaimed: The Forgotten League
The Lead
The Playcallers
Best True Crime Podcast
Disappeared: The Bradley Sisters
Heinous – An Asian True Crime Podcast
Smoke Screen: Just Say You’re Sorry
The Girl in the Blue Mustang
The Girlfriends
The Vanishing Point
Who Killed JFK?
Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast:
Big Lash Energy
Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Embodied
It Can’t Just Be Me
Jillian on Love
Life Kit
Love Letters
