A little over a month ago we opened up the nomination form for the 2018 Discover Pods Awards. All in all, over 6,000 ballots were cast for nearly 3,000 different podcasts. Needless to say, it took a substantial amount of time to sort though the nominations and whittle them down to the deserving finalists.

The methodology is relatively simple. Though total nominations are one metric to determine the finalists, we also balance them with curators and other podcast fans at Discover Pods. We feel this gives us the best way forward to recognize both the mainstream popular podcasts and the indie podcasts alike. You should see this representation through most of the categories. It’s not scientific, it’s not perfect, and it won’t satisfy everyone, but we’re doing our best to simply give props to good podcasts.

Before we get to the nominations, I’d also like to address a corporation-selling-out-sized elephant in the room. Late last month, one company put out a press release claiming they were the “first-ever major live awards event voted by the listeners to honor the very best in podcasting.” We can fact check that statement relatively easily, “first-ever (wrong) major (subjective I guess?) live awards event (wrong) voted by the listeners (wrong) to honor the very best in podcasting (wrong).” Our friends at the Bello Collective do a comprehensive view of the podcast award landscape. The Discover Pods Awards aren’t the first, we’re clearly not the last, but our goal is to shout-out good podcasts that deserve an extra shout-out. We don’t have corporate sponsors, it’s a not a pay-for-play scheme, it’s just a (hopefully) cool awards thing people can get happy about.

Ok cool, now that that’s out of the way….

My challenge to every voter: please vote for your favorite in any given category. However, if you haven’t heard of another nomination in that category please give it a shot. These podcasts weren’t randomly chosen and you’ll likely discover a new show to add to your queue.

Full Schedule

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

Award Winners Announced: Dec. 10

Drum roll please…….

The 2018 Discover Pods Awards Finalists

Best Overall Podcast 2018

My Favorite Murder

The Daily

Casefile

The Adventure Zone

Slow Burn

Pod Save America

Radiolab

Ear Hustle

Today, Explained

The Big Loop

Best New Podcast of 2018

Dr. Death

Swindled

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Disgraceland

Caliphate

Everything is Alive

Hollywood in Color

Today, Explained

Decoder Ring

Most Innovative Podcast

Mission to Zyxx

It’s Been a Minute

Flash Forward

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Accession

Trump, Inc.

What’s the Frequency

70 Million

Endless Thread

The Oval Office Tapes

Desert Island Podcast

Radiolab

It’s Been a Minute

My Brother My Brother and Me

The NoSleep Podcast

Greater Boston

Heavyweight

Join the Party

Comedy Bang Bang

Harmontown

People’s Choice

True Crime Obsessed

The Fantasy Footballers

Blurry Photos

Sensible People

NRI Woman Podcast

Our Americana

Hysteria 51

Uncover: Escaping NXIVM

Joseph

The Soundtrack Show

Cooking by Ear

The Secret Life of Canada

Missing Witches

How It’s Paid

Best Podcast Production Company

Wondery

Radiotopia

Gimlet

Earwolf

Maximum Fun

Panoply

NPR

Crooked Media

Headgum

Category Awards

True Crime

True Crime Obsessed

Criminal

Casefile

My Favorite Murder

True Crime Garage

Swindled

Criminology

Canadian True Crime

Small Town Murder

Slow Burn

Sports

ESPNs 30 for 30 Podcast

The Tennis Podcast

Pardon My Take

HORSE

The Bill Simmons Podcast

The Lowe Post

The Fantasy Footballers

Dual Threat with Ryen Russillo

The Woj Pod

The Pat McAfee Show 2.0

News

The Daily

Up First

The Ben Shapiro Show

Pod Save America

Intercepted

FiveThirtyEight Politics

Today, Explained

The Rachel Maddow Show

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

On the Media

History

Hardcore History

The Dollop

Slow Burn

The Monday American

Stuff You Missed in History Class

The Dirty Bits

Gastro Pod

The Secret Life of Canada

Missing Witches

Holywood in Color

Interview Style

WTF with Marc Maron

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

The Axe Files

The Jordan Harbinger Show

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

The Joe Rogan Experience

Stay Tuned with Preet

How I Built This

Conversations with People Who Hate Me

Love + Radio

Comedy

My Brother My Brother and Me

How Did This Get Made

Comedy Bang Bang

My Dad Wrote a Porno

The Dollop

Last Podcast on the Left

Doug Loves Movies

No Such Thing as a Fish

Wonderful!

Lovett or Leave It

Kids & Family

Varmints

Mirths and Monsters

The Show About Science

Stuff You Should Know

Story Pirates

Brains On

Wow in the World

Noodle Loaf

Fate and the Fablemaidens

Society & Culture

Ear Hustle

Snap Judgement

Bodies

Call Your Girlfriend

Household Name

Spirits

Keep It

The Hilarious World of Depression

Revisionist History

TED Talks Daily

Entertainment

Pop Culture Leftovers

Bitch Sesh

5 Minute Geek

The Watch

The Hamilcast

Binge Mode

The Sometimes Geek Podcast

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Film Loop

Doug Loves Movies

Technology & Science

Reply All

Darknet Diaries

Radiolab

Science Vs.

Stuff You Should Know

Star Talk

The Vergecast

Branch Off

Accidental Tech Podcast

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Audio Drama

The Big Loop

StarTripper!!

Limetown

Girl in Space

Bubble

The Bright Sessions

Wolf 359

Alice Isn’t Dead

Tides

Mission to Zyxx

Business