Extra: Emma Turner, from the Independent Podcast Awards

Emma shares exciting news about the upcoming Independent Podcast Forum on June 16th at 21 Soho in London—a full-day event designed specifically to combat what she calls "the lonely sport" of podcasting. For solo creators who can't always find understanding from non-podcasting friends and family, this gathering promises expert insights and invaluable peer connections. The forum emerged directly from attendee feedback at previous awards ceremonies, where creators consistently valued being surrounded by others who truly understand their unique challenges.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Emma Turner
• 0:25 UniPodFest Reflections
• 0:48 Independent Podcast Awards Explained
• 1:38 Announcing Independent Podcast Forum
• 2:37 Award Details and Entry Process
• 4:02 AI in Podcasting Discussion

Transcript

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 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 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. 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 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 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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Speaker 2: 6:12

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Speaker 2: 6:16

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Speaker 1: 6:17

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Speaker 2: 6:19

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