Radio news

Vision Australia Radio recognised at Australian Podcast Awards

08 December 2020
Australian Podcast Awards

Vision Australia Radio’s Studio 1 picked up a silver medal in the Best Radio Podcast category at the recently announced Australian Podcast Awards. Being up against four ABC podcasts from the ABC was an indication of the high quality of nominees and it was a great honour for Studio 1 to take second place after less than 12 months on air and a tribute to the show’s producer / presenter Matthew Layton, his contributors and the VAR team.

The ‘Best Radio Podcast’ award category is designed for shows that might have been lost in the schedule, but have found a great home in podcasting. The category recognises the radio programs that appeal to podcast audience's sensibilities, and the key aim of the Australian Podcast Awards: to recognise programming that honours fresh perspectives, new formats or alternative viewpoints unheard in mainstream media. Only podcasts where the content, in the majority, was first aired on broadcast radio are eligible for the category.

It’s welcome news for the team at Vision Australia Radio which has seen a healthy jump in podcast streams and downloads across the board throughout 2020. “In the early part of this year, we saw huge increases in the amount of podcasts accessed via the varadio.org website which has carried on across the year” explains Jason Gipps, Vision Australia National Audio Business Development Consultant. “We have taken great pride in knowing that the community we represent is getting more choice in how they access information important to them, this has resulted in a 22% increase across the last 12 months”.

The Australian Podcast Awards is an annual celebration of the quality and breadth of Australian podcast content. Entries are self-nominated, and over 20 categories are judged by a panel of experts, alongside a public vote - the Listeners’ Choice. Entries come from independent podcasters, broadcasters, the business community as well as students and non-profit organisations. The news of Studio 1’s second place at this year’s ceremony follows the announcement only weeks earlier that the program had taken out the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia award for Excellence in News and Current Affairs Programming at the Community Broadcasting Awards.

As a Brit with over 20 years under his belt in UK radio and living with low vision since birth, Matthew provides his unique perspective to each Studio 1 episode. “The show’s aim from the beginning has always been, and will continue to be, to get the voices, stories, passions and opinions of as many people living with blindness and low vision onto the radio as possible,” Matthew said.

Vision Australia Radio manager Conrad Browne congratulated Matthew and the team on what is well deserved recognition by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and the Australian Podcast Awards.

The Studio 1 podcast feed can be accessed here on Podbean and can also be found on iTunes and Spotify. Follow Vision Australia Radio on Facebookand Twitterto access our latest podcast and news.