The Podcast Academy to Honor Serial with Governors Award at The Ambies®

LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Podcast Academy, the preeminent professional podcast organization, announced today that its Board of Governors will bestow Serial with the Governors Award, recognizing the impact a podcast or individual has had on the industry. Serial co-creators Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder will accept the top honor at the second annual Awards for Excellence in Audio (The Ambies®) on March 22. The Ambies will be co-hosted by Ross Mathews and Nikki Boyer (2021 Podcast of the Year Ambies-winner; Dying for Sex) and will be streamed LIVE exclusively on Twitch at 6:00p.m. PST/ 9:00p.m. EST from The Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. This year's Ambies are presented by Wondery with additional support from Audible, Audacy, PRX, Tenderfoot TV, The Hollywood Reporter, Apollo Podcasts, Castbox, Loeb & Loeb and IMDb.

From the creators of This American Life, Serial debuted in October 2014 and is hosted by Koenig and edited by Snyder. The podcast series tells one story over the course of a season. In its first season, Serial investigated the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County. Its subsequent seasons explored the story of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was held for five years by the Taliban, followed by a look at the cases within the Justice Center Complex in Cleveland. Serial has been downloaded more than 420 million times, making it the most listened-to podcast in the history of the form. Slate headlined "Serial is Like Nothing I've Ever Heard or Watched Before"; Buzzfeed wrote "Serial is the Best New Crime Drama (And It's Not on TV)"; and The New Yorker declared Serial "the podcast we've been waiting for." Serial won the 2014 Peabody Award, the first time the award was given to a podcast, as well as major awards for broadcasting including the duPont-Columbia, Scripps Howard, and Edward R. Murrow. Serial is produced by Serial Productions in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.

"The work that Sarah, Julie, and the entire Serial team have accomplished over the years is groundbreaking for the podcasting industry," said Donald Albright, Chairperson of the Podcast Academy and President & Co-Founder of Tenderfoot TV. "Serial became a successful cultural phenomenon that changed the public's perception of podcasts and helped elevate the medium to what it is today. As a long-time admirer of Serial, like many others, I can honestly say there would be no Tenderfoot TV without them. They continue to spark curiosity and inspire podcasters new and old, which is precisely why The Podcast Academy Governors are excited to recognize them with this award."

The Ambies celebrate excellence in podcasting and elevate awareness and status of podcasts as a unique and personal medium for entertainment, information, storytelling and expression. The ceremony will highlight 178 nominees across 25 categories with winners to be selected by every voting member of The Podcast Academy. The full list of 2022 nominees may be found here.

ABOUT JULIE SNYDER
Julie Snyder has been the guiding force behind two of the most successful audio broadcasting ventures: for many years, she worked as the senior producer of the public radio show This American Life before co-creating the podcast Serial. Snyder began working at This American Life in 1997 – almost from its inception – and along with host Ira Glass, set the editorial agenda for the program, winning four Peabody Awards along the way. She has produced many of This American Life's most entertaining and memorable episodes, including "24 Hours at the Golden Apple" and "Notes on Camp." In addition, she has also headed the program's most ambitious and topical programs, notably episodes covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care reform, and urban violence in Chicago.

In 2013, Snyder began talking with her This American Life colleague Sarah Koenig about trying something new: making a show where they would cover one story over the course of an entire season. At the time, smartphone technology was making podcasts more accessible for the public and the on-demand nature of podcast listening meant audiences could follow each chapter of the story as it unfolded week by week. The format was appealing to both Koenig and Snyder because it meant they could use all the tools of narrative journalism to report an in-depth story that featured twists, turns, tangents and suspense along the way. After a year of reporting and producing, with Koenig as host/reporter and Snyder as editor, Serial became a sensation.

ABOUT SARAH KOENIG
Sarah Koenig is the host and co-creator of the award-winning podcast Serial, which is now heading into its fourth season. Launched in 2014, Serial has been downloaded more than 420 million times, making it the most listened-to podcast in the history of the form, and is credited with bringing mainstream attention to the format as a whole. Serial won the 2014 Peabody Award, the first time the award has been given to a podcast, among other honors. In 2015, Koenig was named one of Time Magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People." She began her career as a newspaper reporter, starting at her weekly hometown paper. She lived in Moscow, Russia for several years, where she worked for the New York Times. Once she returned, she did stints covering crime and politics for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire and at the Baltimore Sun. In 2004, Sarah Koenig became a producer at the radio show This American Life.

She has guest-hosted This American Life several times, most memorably for the "No Coincidence, No Story" show. She has also produced and reported some of the show's most popular episodes, including "Switched at Birth," "Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde" and "Habeas Schmabeas," a Peabody Award-winning show about Guantanamo Bay.

ABOUT SERIAL PRODUCTIONS
Serial Productions, a New York Times company, is the maker of the blockbuster podcasts Serial and S-Town with more than 743 million total downloads. Serial was a spin-off from "This American Life," the iconic public radio program and podcast that reaches 5 million people per week and has won every major award for broadcasting excellence including the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for audio reporting. In July 2020, Serial Productions became part of The New York Times Company, and together they launched Nice White Parents, a chart-topping series about the powerful forces shaping public schools; The Improvement Association, a captivating true story about election fraud; and The Trojan Horse Affair, an investigative series exploring the mystery at the heart of a scandal that rocked Britain.

ABOUT THE PODCAST ACADEMY
Founded in February 2020, The Podcast Academy is a not-for-profit professional membership organization that celebrates excellence in podcasting and elevates awareness of podcasts as an indispensable medium for entertainment, information, and creative expression. It values individual and organizational creators alike, of all backgrounds and means, and defines achievement through the values of quality, creativity, innovation, inclusion, and impact. The Podcast Academy provides community, professional development, and industry connections through inclusive, dynamic programming. For more information about The Podcast Academy, please visit http://www.thepodcastacademy.com and follow/like/subscribe on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linkedin.

# # #

Press Assets:
The Ambies logo; Courtesy: The Podcast Academy    
Serial assets; Courtesy: Sandy Honig
Ross Mathews press photo; Courtesy: Ross Mathews
Nikki Boyer press photo; Courtesy: Nikki Boyer

Media Contact

Michele Cobb, The Podcast Academy, 401-354-9100, [email protected]

SOURCE The Podcast Academy