Just 10 days after competing for the inaugural podcast of the year award at the Golden Globes, Call Her Daddy, SmartLess and The Mel Robbins Podcast are nominated for podcast of the year at the sixth annual Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies).
The other nominees in that top category at The Ambies are Crime Junkie, Pablo Torre Finds Out, Pod Save America, Question Everything, Reveal, The Last Invention and Wisecrack.
Actors Will Arnett, Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman, the hosts of SmartLess, are also vying at The Ambies for best podcast host or hosts.
This year’s ceremony will honor 227 nominees across 33 categories, including six new categories: podcast advertiser innovator award, best ad read, best branded podcast, best emerging podcast, best use of video in a podcast, and vanguard podcaster of the year. Winners in 32 categories will be selected by the full voting membership of The Podcast Academy, a not-for-profit professional membership organization that celebrates excellence in podcasting. The vanguard podcaster of the year award will be determined separately by the inaugural Vanguard Jury, which will be announced ahead of The Ambies.
Eligible new members will be able to vote to determine this year’s winners if applications are submitted by Jan. 23. More information may be found at the Podcast Academy’s site.
For the first time, The Ambies will be presented as part of On Air Fest, on Monday, Feb. 23, at the Arlo Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York.
“This year’s Ambies nominees highlight the range and ambition of today’s podcast creators,” Christy Mirabal, chair of The Podcast Academy, said in a statement. “They’re pushing the medium forward and finding new ways to tell stories that resonate deeply with listeners. They spotlight new voices, push boundaries, and expand far beyond audio alone. The breadth and diversity of today’s podcast creators and content is reflected in this year’s record-breaking number of submissions, the highest we’ve received since the inaugural Ambies in 2021. That vibrancy and evolution will come to life through our partnership with On Air, injecting fresh energy into the ceremony against the electric backdrop of Brooklyn, N.Y.”
On Air Fest is set to take place Feb. 23-26 in Brooklyn. On Air Fest 2026 headliners include Wyclef Jean, Alec Baldwin, Roxane Gay, Malcolm Gladwell, Don Lemon, Hrishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder), The Telepathy Tapes, Chani Nicholas, Heavyweight, Code Switch, Vibe Check and Broken Record.
Here’s the full list of nominees for the The 2016 Ambies:
Podcast of the Year
Call Her Daddy
Crime Junkie
Pablo Torre Finds Out
Pod Save America
Question Everything
Reveal
SmartLess
The Last Invention
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Wisecrack
Best Podcast Host or Hosts
Steve Burns – Alive with Steve Burns
Anderson Cooper – All There Is with Anderson Cooper
Steven Chua – Dirtbag Climber from CBC Uncover
Andrea Dunlop – Nobody Should Believe Me
Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman – SmartLess
Oprah Winfrey – The Oprah Podcast
Rachel Martin – Wild Card with Rachel Martin
Best Original Score and Music Supervision
Bone Valley, Season 3, Graves County
DC High Volume: Batman
Lulu’s Late Night
Daniel Brunelle – Murder at the Patel Motel
Tangelene Bolton – Scam Factory
Oded Lev-Ari and Chris Tarry – The Left Arm Treasure Society
Sandro Morales, Patrick Rodman, and Eric P. Sherman – The Strange Thing About…
Best Entertainment Podcast
Iconic Origins: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
ReLiving Single
Skip Intro
The Bop Bible
The Plot Thickens: Cleopatra
Twenty Thousand Hertz
You’ll Hear It
Best Society and Culture Podcast
A Tiny Plot
Heat List
Model Wars
Suave: Season Two
The Stoop
Uncuffed
Wisecrack
Best Comedy Podcast
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Murder at the Patel Motel
SmartLess
The Bald and The Beautiful with Trixie and Katya
The Big Pitch with Jimmy Carr
Wisecrack
Best Ad Read
Begin Again with Davina
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Reality Gays with Mattie and Poodle
Revisionist History
The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
We Need To Talk
Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch
Best Branded Podcast
Moneywise
Oprah’s Book Club: Presented by Starbucks
Sesame Street: Cookie Monster Mysteries
Things Bakers Know
Tomorrow’s Cure
Traveling with AAA
What The Fraud?
Best Business Podcast
Business Wars
Lead Balloon
Masters of Scale
Morning Brew Daily
NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast
The Indicator from Planet Money
The Journal
Best DIY Podcast
abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast
Black Is America
Climate Shifted
Culture Kids
Redacted History
The Integrated Schools Podcast
Twice Displaced
Best Documentary Podcast
Al Jazeera Investigates – 36 July: Uprising in Bangladesh
IVF Disrupted: The Kindbody Story
Latino USA
Not a Very Good Murderer
The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby
The Poppy Day Bomb
What Could Go Wrong?
Best Emerging Podcast
Crook County
Debt Heads
How Is This Better?
Lawless Planet
Raising Us
This Guy Sucked
This News is So Gay
Best Fiction Podcast
Murder on Mars
PURPLE HEART WARRIORS
Red for Revolution
StanLand
The Good Life
TWO THOUSAND AND LATE
You Feeling This
Best History Podcast
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Charlie’s Place
Division Street Revisited
God’s Banker
HISTORY This Week
Making Gay History: The Nazi Era
Our Ancestors Were Messy
Best Indie Podcast
Debt Heads
Our Ancestors Were Messy
Radio Diaries
Stitch Please
Taboo Science
The Fight of My Life: Escaping Scam City
Worst Club Ever (A Child Loss Podcast)
Best Indie Podcast Host or Hosts
Jamie Feldman & Rachel Webster – Debt Heads
Dusty Weis – Lead Balloon
Anna DeShawn – Queer News
Jamie Kern Lima – The Jamie Kern Lima Show
Zibby Owens – Totally Booked with Zibby
Maya Guice – White Water
Allie Kramer – Worst Club Ever (A Child Loss Podcast)
Best Interview Podcast
All There Is with Anderson Cooper
Death, Sex & Money
Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know
Lives Less Ordinary
On with Kara Swisher
The Oprah Podcast
We’re Not Kidding with Mehdi & Friends
Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
Levittown
Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet
Radiolab
Shell Game
Short Wave
To Catch a Thief: China’s Rise to Cyber Supremacy
We the Children – Kids Talk Climate Change
Best News & Politics Podcast
Consider This
Face Off: The U.S. vs China
Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet
Pod Save America
Radio Atlantic
Reveal
Vibe Check
Best Performance in Audio Fiction
Shailene Woodley – Game of Nines
Kyle Prue, Mather Zickel, Christopher Gebauer, Caitlyn Carleton, Raechel Wong, Alyssa Mann, Anthony Misiano, and Nicole Kang – In Media Res
Merritt Wever, Alessandro Nivola, Cynthia Nixon, Cooper Burkett, Jenny Maguire, JD Mollison, Laith Nakli, Deirdre O’Connell, Carolyn Baeumler, Zach Shaffer, and Monique Woodley – LEAD how this story ends is up to us
Maulik Pancholy, Murray Bartlett, Poorna Jagannathan, Karan Soni, Anna Camp, Adam Pally, Margo Martindale, Richard Kind, Conrad Ricamora, Iqbal Theba, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Padma Lakshmi, et al. – Murder at the Patel Motel
Marisa Abela – Pride and Prejudice
Sufyan Mahmud, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Patrick Caberty, Lex Daemon, Georgina Elizabeth Okon – The Invenios Expeditions
Judd Michael Goldstein, Lauren Marcus, Kate Weiman, David Henry Gerson, Jennifer Roszell, Alyssa Marvin, Anthony Joo, and Carter Jones – The Left Arm Treasure Society
Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast
How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
How To!
No Small Endeavor
The Mel Robbins Podcast
The Oprah Podcast
This Is Woman’s Work
Wild Card with Rachel Martin
Best Podcast for Kids
Dogood Detectives
Folktales from Sudan
Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest
Lightcatchers
Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials
Sesame Street: Cookie Monster Mysteries
Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast
Best Production and Sound Design
John Perotti – Charlie’s Place
DC High Volume: Batman
Chris Tarry – Ice Lions
Jude Brewer, Dan Rosato, & Chris Olin – Iconic Origins: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Shannon Burkett, Andy Kris, & Jenny Maguire – LEAD how this story ends is up to us
Alex Vespestad, Steven Perez, & Cooper Skinner – Wisecrack
Michael Kramer – Worst Club Ever (A Child Loss Podcast)
Best Reporting
Donie O’Sullivan – CNN Presents: Persuadable
Nicolo Majnoni – Coal Survivor
T.J. Raphael – Liberty Lost
Robyn Semien – Question Everything
Hannah Levintova and Ashley Cleek – Reveal
Gregory Warner and Andy Mills – The Last Invention
Ian Urbina – The Outlaw Ocean
Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
Rebecca Humphries – Becoming Meg Dashwood
Lady Killer
Maulik Pancholy, Zackary Grady, & Achilles Stamatelaky – Murder at the Patel Motel
Jeff Schmidt – OMINOUS THRILL
Jana Naomi Smith – Red for Revolution
Brian Siegele – Sightings
Eric P. Sherman – The Strange Thing About…
Best Scriptwriting, Non-Fiction
Jeremiah Crowell, Scott Tiffany – Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Kyle Tekiela – Crook County
Erisa Apantaku, James Edwards, & Philippa Geering – Heat List
Shannon Burkett – LEAD how this story ends is up to us
Ryan Sweikert and Garrett Graff – Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet
Ethan Brooks – No Easy Fix
Charles Forbes and Edd Hedges – Wisecrack
Best Spanish Language Narrative Podcast
El árbol de la vida
La Bala Mágica
La Segunda Muerte del Dios Punk
No Me Provoquen
Punto Rojo, Punto Azul
Se Llamaba Como Yo [She Had My Name]
Vivir y Morir en Gaza
Best Sports Podcast
Chasing Basketball Heaven
Netflix Sports Club
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Pablo Torre Finds Out
San Diego FC: Behind the Flow
Sports in America with David Greene
The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly
Best True Crime Podcast
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
Bone Valley, Season 2, Jeremy
Corruption Uncovered
Dirtbag Climber
Nobody Should Believe Me
Sea of Lies
Where Is Daniel Morcombe?
Best Use of Video Podcast
Antiques Roadshow Detours
Dark History
Peacemaker: The Official Podcast with James Gunn
Tales Unrolled
The Jamie Kern Lima Show
The Rest Is History
The Wednesday Season 2 Official Woecast
Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast
A Zen Mind Guided Meditations
Embodied
Extraordinary Conversations with Dr. Toby Campbell
Hack your Body, Heal your Mind
Joy Lab
Mental Health Rewritten
She MD
Podcast Advertiser Innovator Award
Charlie’s Place
My Favorite Murder
Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce
Silver Linings with The Old Gays
The Adam Friedland Show
The Track Star Podcast
The Young Turks
