The 2018 Discover Pods Award Winners

Wowza. The second annual Discover Pods Awards increased in magnitude, interest, and competitive level. Over 10,000 people voted for the finalists to ultimately determine the winners. Because every podcast award needs to be the “first”, “best”, and other hyperboles I guess, let’s call the 2018 Discover Pods Awards the largest non-biased listener-voted podcast awards recognizing the best podcasts in the industry both mainstream and indie. Ok, that’s a mouthful. 

Even more evident this year was how close nearly every race was. Very few podcasts ran away with the voting in their respective category and many had voting patterns fairly spread out. Here’s the breakdown for Best Overall Podcast:

See, it’s close!

The goal for the awards was to create a podcast awards that didn’t only highlight the podcasts everyone knows, but also the under-represented podcasts that are very very good in their own right. Though we know we won’t satisfy everyone, this was our intent. With that in mind, I encourage you all to view the full list of finalists and follow through with my challenge to listen to any podcast you hadn’t heard of before. It’s honestly a great list full of diverse quality podcasts. Bookmark it if you need to for those rare occasions you’re at podcast zero.

So here we go, the 2018 Discover Pods Award winners….

Best Overall Podcast 2018

Winner: My Favorite Murder

Runner up: Ear Hustle

Best New Podcast of 2018

Winner: Dr. Death

Runner up: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Most Innovative Podcast

Winner: The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

Runner up: It’s Been a Minute

Desert Island Podcast

Winner: Radiolab

Runner up: The NoSleep Podcast

People’s Choice

Winner: True Crime Obsessed

Runner up: Uncover: Escaping NXIVM

Best Podcast Production Company

Winner: NPR

Runner up: Wondery

Category Awards

True Crime

Winner: Small Town Murder

Runner up: Swindled

Sports

Winner: ESPNs 30 for 30 Podcast

Runner up: The Fantasy Footballers

News

Winner: Pod Save America

Runner up: Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

History

Winner: Stuff You Missed in History Class

Runner up: Hardcore History

Interview Style

Winner: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Runner up: Conversations with People Who Hate Me

Comedy

Winner: Last Podcast on the Left

Runner up: My Dad Wrote a Porno

Kids & Family

Winner: Varmints

Runner up: Story Pirates

Society & Culture

Winner: Ear Hustle

Runner up: The Hilarious World of Depression

Entertainment

Winner: The Hamilcast

Runner up: Pop Culture Leftovers

Technology & Science

Winner: Radiolab

Runner up: Darknet Diaries

Audio Drama

Winner: Girl in Space

Runner up: The Bright Sessions

Business

Winner: Freakonomics

Runner up: How I Built This