Another year, another great slate of podcasts new and old. It’s been written ad nauseam, but because of podcasts low barrier of entry — literally anyone can make a podcast — we’re experiencing a flood of creative folks making some great podcasts. The market may move around and pundits can speculate on whether we’re in a bubble or not, but the one thing that’s unassailable: there’s never been a better time to be a podcast fan.

Last year, the inaugural Discover Pods Awards, we received over 4,000 nominations and over 6,000 voted on the finalists. S-Town was the big winner taking home four trophies including Best Overall Podcast, Best Podcast Episode, Best New Podcast, and Best True Crime Podcast. See a full list of 2017 Discover Pods Awards winners here.

This year we’re adding some new categories and changing things up a bit.

Nominations

Similar to last year, nominations are open starting today until October 26th at 6pm ET. Everyone is free to nominate podcasts and episodes, there’s no charge like other awards. Podcasters, feel free to campaign on your behalf and help spread the word. That said, ballot stuffing is not allowed and won’t benefit your podcast. Each email address only gets one nomination form — multiple get automatically deleted. Also, total nominations, while important are only one variable that’ll help determine the finalists.

Nominations are now closed. Stay tuned on November 16th for the list of finalists.

Finalists

The Finalists will be announced on November 16th. Together with a small group of podcast fans and advocates, we’ll sift through the nominations and ultimately determine the podcasts selected for the final round of voting. There’s an intentional gap between the closing of nominations and the finalists announced because we intend to spend significant time going through all the nominations to select those most deserving.

Full Schedule

Nominations (CLOSED): Oct. 8 – Oct. 26th at 6pm ET

Finalists Announced: Nov. 16

Final Voting: Nov. 16 – Dec. 7 at 6pm ET

Award Winners Announced: Dec. 10