Introducing Emma Turner

Speaker 1 0:01

The Pod News Weekly Review with Buzzsprout . Start podcasting , keep podcasting .

Speaker 2 0:09

I'm joined today by Emma Turner . Emma is part of the Impendent Podcast Awards . Emma hello , how are you ?

Speaker 1 0:16

Hi , Sam , I'm very well thanks . How are you doing ?

Speaker 2 0:19

Very well Now . We were passing ships at the UniPodFfest this weekend , but we

UniPodFest Reflections

Speaker 2 0:25

didn't really connect . How was the Uni Podfest for you ?

Speaker 1 0:28

Oh , I really loved it . Nina's done such a great job of starting that event something to aspire to and so I think the sessions were great , really engaging speakers . I was a big fan of the girlfriend session with Anna , so , yeah , a great day .

Speaker 2 0:41

Yeah , I enjoyed it as well and , as you say , congratulations to Nina Robinson for the third year running . Now let's get back to

Independent Podcast Awards Explained

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your awards . You've got the Independent Podcast Awards . What are they and why do you need an Independent Podcast Awards ?

Speaker 1 0:55

Well , they are , as the name says , awards for independent podcasters . They're in their third year now , and we launched them back in 2023 . Independent podcasters they're in their third year now and we launched them back in 2023 . It was kind of off the back of a conversation that Em from Verbal Diorama had with Simon Brew from Film Stories about how there's quite a lot of podcast awards out there , but often the smaller shows get overlooked , and so one thing led to another , and then we launched the awards to try and do something about that . So here we are , three years later .

Speaker 2 1:25

Yeah , James and I went to the last awards . They were really well done . Congratulations to everyone involved .

Speaker 1 1:31

Thank you .

Speaker 2 1:31

There's some amazing winners out of that . Now you've also just announced the Independent Podcast Forum

Announcing Independent Podcast Forum

Speaker 2 1:38

. What's that ?

Speaker 1 1:43

It's going to be a small one-day event for indie creators to come together and learn from experts from the industry , but also to learn from each other as well . This sort of came off the back of feedback from attendees from the awards and how much they loved just being in a room with people like them . As many solo podcasters know , it can be a really lonely sport at times . So being with people that go through the same things because you know it's one thing talking to your partner , but if they're not a podcaster themselves , they still don't really understand what it's like know that feeling well .

Speaker 1 2:12

Know that feeling well so this is a chance for people to come together , talk about what they do , find out how they could potentially do things better and , yeah , hear from some excellent speakers too so what is the date for this independent forum ? It's taking place on Monday , the 16th of June , at 21 Soho in central London , and it's running from about 9 30 till 5 , and there'll be some

Award Details and Entry Process

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drinks afterwards as well , so even more time to chat .

Speaker 2 2:42

And if I wanted to register or I wanted to come along , what would I do ?

Speaker 1 2:46

You would go to our website independentpodcastawardscom , and there's information about both the forum and entering the awards , so everything's all in one place , making it nice and easy and , as you said , entering the awards , what's the entry date and what's the actual date of the awards then ? The deadline for entries is the 2nd of june , which is a monday , so it gives you that last weekend to get everything together , and the awards themselves are going to take place on the 15th of October , back at King's Place in London .

Speaker 2 3:15

Nice Judges . Who's judging it this year ? How do judges get involved ? What do they need to do ?

Speaker 1 3:21

Well , it's an open call for judges . If people would like to get involved , then please do get in touch with me . My email address is all over the website . And , yeah , we've had a mix of people that have been podcasting for years , people that just started doing it . A nice array of judges , but we want lots of people from different backgrounds , different voices , looking for different things as well , so please do get in touch and get involved now ?

Speaker 2 3:46

is it as expensive as entering the british podcast awards ? Do I have to pay a gazillion quid , find , find sponsors and give you a gold bar of bullion ? What do I need to do ?

Speaker 1 3:57

No , we try to keep our costs as minimal as possible . Obviously , life is expensive

AI in Podcasting Discussion

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right now and lots of these people are doing it themselves . They don't have a company to pay for them . So the cost to enter is £35 for the first entry and then , if you want to enter a couple of other categories , they're £5 each after that , and we've got a few free to enter categories as well , which are best podcast artwork , best jingle and a new one for this year best use of video , because lots of people are starting to dip their toe in the water in terms of video podcasting , so we just want to see what people are up to and reward those that are doing it well .

Speaker 2 4:33

I was going to ask you about video and new categories , but you beat me to it , do you , or will you ? Now here's a controversial one Will you use a category for AI ? Some people say having an AI voice is not very creative , or maybe having AI artwork is not very creative , and other people sit on the other side of the fence , so that's very creative . So where do you sit ?

Speaker 1 4:57

That's a really tricky question . I think that if you can demonstrate why you're using it and how you're using it and doing it , but still being creative , then I think it's okay . But it's so open to open interpretation , isn't it ? Lots of people have very Marmite views on it , so I think it's demonstrating to the judges how you're using it and why , and then it's kind of down to them to decide , and it takes it out of my hands .

Speaker 2 5:27

Yes , I was watching that shoulder slope nicely . Someone else's decision , not mine .

Speaker 1 5:35

But , having said that , we're actually going to be using AI ourselves because with each entry the entrants get feedback from the judges , but that will be using an AI tool to pull together reports on each entry to send out . So I'm definitely not anti-AI .

Speaker 2 5:52

Excellent , emma . Thank you so much . Look again . Quick reminder what's the website ? Where do I go ?

Speaker 1 5:58

Independentpodcastawardscom and everything about the forum and the awards will be there for you .

Speaker 2 6:03

Lovely Speak to you soon .

Speaker 1 6:05

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