NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – The Signal Awards has announced the Finalists for its Third Annual honors, recognizing the podcasts that define culture. As the only distinction that celebrates the most potent, meaningful, and unprecedented audio projects being made today, The Signal Awards represents a diverse and discerning range of storytellers across both the content spectrum and creator ecosystem – mainstream and independent, underground and above the fold.
Leading the list of 2024 Finalists is on-mic talent such as Anderson Cooper, Audie Cornish, Bowen Yang, Esther Perel, Jess Hilarious, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Keke Palmer, Matt Rogers, Michele Norris, Oprah Winfrey, Paul Giamatti, Penn Badgley, Sam Smith, Shannon Sharpe, The Kid Mero, Trevor Noah, Questlove and Will Smith, as well as the newest generations of bingeable listens, audio documentaries, timely conversations and more from series like 99% Invisible (SiriusXM), Beyond All Repair (WBUR/ZSP), Broomgate: A Curling Scandal (CBC), Death, Sex & Money (Slate), Hysterical (Wondery), Diaries of the War on Gaza (Al Jazeera), Edge of Reason (The Atlantic), Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant (PBS), In The Dark: The Runaway Princesses (The New Yorker), Long Shadow: In Guns We Trust (Campside), Popcast (The New York Times), The Competition (Wondery), The Paris Review (The Paris Review) and Today, Explained (Vox), and independent productions including On Being with Krista Tippett, The Nightingale of Iran, Twenty Thousand Hertz, Voices in the River and more.
See The Signal Awards’ complete list of 2024 Finalists HERE, and find an overview of this year’s highlights below.
All Finalists are eligible to win two of the podcast industry’s prestigious awards: a Signal Award and The Listener’s Choice Award. With demarcations for Gold, Silver, and Bronze, each Signal Award is selected by the Signal Awards Judging Academy, an esteemed and newly expanded cohort of the architects, instigators, and trailblazers of the medium, who have together reviewed thousands of hours of audio submissions from the US, Australia, Canada, China, UAE, UK, Vietnam and beyond. Members include Jay Shetty (Host, On Purpose with Jay Shetty), Dan Taberski (Host, Hysterical), Leon Neyfakh (Host and Creator, Slow Burn), Shima Oliaee (Co-Host, Dolly Parton’s America and Founder, Shirazad Productions) and myriad other creators, in addition to Jonathan Hirsch (VP Global Podcasts, Sony Music), Chris Bannon (SVP, Head of Global Audio at Condé Nast), Jessica Cordova Kramer (CEO & Founder, Lemonada Media) and other industry leaders at Acast, CNN, KCRW, NPR, QCODE, Reductress, Vox Media, Stitcher and more.
The Listener’s Choice Award is voted on by podcast fans from around the world and drew more than 130,000 public votes in 2023. Voting for the 2024 Signal Listener’s Choice Awards is open now at https://vote.signalaward.com, and will close on October 17, 2024, at 11:59 pm PDT. All winners will be announced on October 29th, and then celebrated with a cocktail party at The Signal Awards’ new venue of Public Records (Brooklyn, NY), on November 12th.
“With more and more incredible shows being made, listeners and the industry are looking for a standard-bearer of excellence,” said Jemma Rose Brown, General Manager of The Signal Awards. “Our Judging Academy’s discerning selections this year represent the most renowned artists, organizations and storytellers shaping the podcast medium today. It is an honor to celebrate their work.”
“I loved how the Signal Awards exposed me to shows that weren’t on my radar,” added Lauren González, Senior Manager of Programming at NPR, and member of the Signal Awards Judging Academy. “It’s a great way for growing shows to gain more visibility in the industry.”
In 2024, The Signal Awards is placing a special focus on the podcasts that define culture. Through a new slate of categories – Athletes Shaping Culture, Artists & Designers Shaping Culture, Business People & Entrepreneurs Shaping Culture, Curators Shaping Culture, Comedians Shaping Culture – this year’s Awards shine a spotlight on the people and shows that have changed habits, rewritten the script or sculpted new perspectives. Notable finalists for these first-time honors range from Club Shay Shay, hosted by Super Bowl Champion Shannon Sharpe, to Carefully Reckless with Jess Hilarious, Crooked Media’s Lovett or Leave It and What Now? with Trevor Noah, to Clever, Talkhouse Podcast, The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway, She Pivots and numerous others.