2026 PODCAST OF THE YEAR

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FULL PODCAST TITLE: Stories from Real Life

HOSTS NAME: Melvin E. Edwards

PODCAST LINK: https://www.podpage.com/stories-from-real-life/ep-179-danny-johnson-clean-comedy-real-stories-and-the-road/

FULL PODCAST TITLE: Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle

HOSTS NAME: Estelle Erasmus

PODCAST LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freelance-writing-direct-with-estelle-conversations/id1647429472

FULL PODCAST TITLE: The Best of Book Marketing Podcast

HOSTS NAMES: Lainey Cameron and Paulette Stout

PODCAST LINK: https://www.bestofbookmarketing.com

  FULL PODCAST TITLE: Grieving Parents Sharing Hope

HOSTS NAME: Laura Diehl

PODCAST LINK: https://www.gpshope.org/

FULL PODCAST TITLE: Believing the Bizarre: Paranormal Podcast

HOSTS NAMES: Charles Leopold & Tyler Perry

PODCAST LINK: https://believingthebizarre.com/

  FULL PODCAST TITLE: Spill the Tea with Virginia Lee: Secrets of High Achieving Teens 

HOSTS NAME: Virginia Lee

PODCAST LINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spill-the-tea-the-secrets-of-high-achieving-teens/id1768118748

FULL PODCAST TITLE: No Ordinary Monday 

HOSTS NAME: Chris Baron 

PODCAST LINK: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2517669.rss https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-ordinary-monday/id1830965307

    FULL PODCAST TITLE: This is Now: Parenting Teens Today

HOSTS NAME: Tiffany Dhooge, President & CEO of Children’s Harbor

PODCAST LINK: https://www.youtube.com/@thisisNOWparentingteenstoday/podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/6E3j3CXBHCspX9AGbAdvdU https://childrensharbor.org/podcast/

FULL PODCAST TITLE: Whimsical Wavelengths – A Science Podcast

HOSTS NAME: Dr. Jeffrey Zurek

PODCAST LINK: https://whimsicalwavelengths.com/

FULL PODCAST TITLE: Escape The Clock: How to Become Financially Free and Have the Option Not to Work

HOSTS NAME: Daniel C. Rodgers

PODCAST LINK: www.escapetheclock.com/podcast

FULL PODCAST TITLE: Race Of Your Own 

HOSTS NAME: Vergi Rodriguez 

PODCAST LINK: https://www.youtube.com/@raceofyourown/videos

FULL PODCAST TITLE: The Medic and the Mufti Podcast: Big Questions About the Human Being - Islam and Biomedicine in Dialogue 

HOSTS NAME: Dr Aasim I. Padela 

PODCAST LINK: https://medicineandislam.org/the-medic-and-the-mufti/

FULL PODCAST TITLE: The Latitude Adjustment: An Aging Heroes podcast

HOSTS NAMES: Randolph (Rusty) Harrison and Erica Schwarting Harrison

PODCAST LINK: https://open.spotify.com/show/2rzmuAwbxPkYszRvToaRof

CHECK OUT OUR NEW LIST OF CATEGORIES!

OFFICIAL 2027 CATEGORIES  

• ADVENTURE & TRAVEL
• ARTS
• BEST FEMALE HOSTED PODCAST
• BEST MALE HOSTED PODCAST
• BUSINESS
• COMEDY
• CRIME
• DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
• DRAMA
• EDUCATION
• ENTERTAINMENT
• ENVIRONMENT
• FANTASY & SCI-FI
• FICTION
• FINANCE & INVESTING
• FOOD & BEVERAGE
• GAMES AND HOBBIES
• GOVERNMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
• HEALTH
• HISTORY
• HORROR & PARANORMAL
• HUMOR & SATIRE
• INTERVIEW-STYLE
• KIDS AND FAMILY
• LEISURE
• LGBTQ
• MOTIVATION & SUCCESS
• MUSIC
• PARENTING
• PERSONAL JOURNEYS
• POLITICS AND NEWS
• RELATIONSHIPS & DATING
• RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
• SCIENCE
• SELF-IMPROVEMENT & WELLNESS
• SOCIAL CHANGE
• SOCIETY AND CULTURE
• SPORTS
• TECHNOLOGY
• TV AND FILM

**AMERICANWRITINGAWARDS.COM PODCAST OF THE YEAR AWARD**

 The Podcast of the Year award was created as a means to recognize excellence in independent podcasting. The award is international and open to all shows regardless of country of origin or language (non-English speaking podcasts must be transcribed or translated into English).  

Official Award Timeline

• Registration Deadline February 14, 2027
• Category Prizes and PODCAST OF THE YEAR AWARD announced March 8, 2027

The Podcast of the Year committee and judges reserve the right to disqualify any show they feel violates the spirit of the Awards. The Podcast Awards committee's decision on disqualification will be final. A disqualified show can appeal disqualification in writing within 48 hours to info@americanwritingawards.com. Disqualification will result in the forfeiture of the registration fee.

The Awards committee reserves the right to disqualify any show on the grounds of hate speech and or violence.  While we strongly support freedom of speech we will not tolerate hate speech and or violence against others. 

NOMINATION RULES AND ELIGIBILITY

EASY 2-STEP PROCESS FOR REGISTERING:  

1.  PROCESS ENTRY FEE ONLINE. 

2.  SEND FILLED-OUT ENTRY FORM TO INFO@AMERICANWRITINGAWARDS.COM

Any show podcasting on or before REGISTRATION DEADLINE is eligible to register for the Podcast of the Year.

Submitted Podcasts must have a publicly accessible RSS feed that can be followed/subscribed to.

• Any show wishing to be eligible to be nominated can register via the steps described on the entry form until the nomination closing date and pay the $39 registration fee. Registrations are non-refundable for any reason but shows can be asked to be moved to a different category prior to the judging deadline.
• Shows can register in as many appropriate categories as they want. Each category registration is a separate fee. Just make sure your show is appropriate for each category.
• Shows that do not register are not eligible to participate. A third party can register a show on behalf of another podcast. The registration fee is non-refundable.

WHY US?

Winning shows will be sent an official "Podcast of the Year" digital award seal for promotional use and recognition, published and promoted on our website and media accounts for life being seen by thousands worldwide, and  included in our press releases which are distributed to 400+ premium news outlets including local, regional, and national news sites that can include Google News, Yahoo News, Bing, CBS, Fox, ABC, CW, and NBC affiliated broadcasting websites and more with a potential reach of millions.  

• The Podcast of the Year award offers a low-cost entry fee and a seamless electronic submission process.
• A single category registration qualifies a piece for the category prize as well as "Podcast of the Year" consideration. 
• Shows can be entered into multiple categories for increased odds of winning. A full list of categories can be found above.

GET YOUR SHOW THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES!