A great friend of the show was letting me know about some podcast awards coming up that he thought I'd have a shot at. Great! It would be nice to be recognized for excellence in the field of podcasting! But then he told me how you register for consideration.
In addition to the typical information, they want money. It turns out the overwhelming majority of podcast awards go to shows that have forked over cash money to be considered. A show like Toronto Mike'd, for example, that has never paid one red cent to enter an awards show, cannot win.
TIL most podcast awards charge money for you to submit your show for consideration
— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) July 18, 2023
I tweeted about this, because I had never thought about it, and was blissfully ignorant that this was how awards were allocated. That's when I learned it's the same deal for journalism awards.
same w journalism awards
— @hockeyesque (@hockeyesque) July 18, 2023
A little digging reveals there's an entry fee to be considered for a Juno, Grammy, Emmy...
It’s been like this forever in many industries.
— Rob Johnston 🇨🇦🎧🎵 (@Robbie_J) July 18, 2023
Check out the entry fees for the New York Festivals, then calculate how many submissions the CBC has. The amount of $$$ will blow you away.
At some point, it was normalized that if you wanted to be considered for an industry award, you paid a fee. I personally have no desire to spend a dime to be considered for a podcast award.
So if you're wondering why I never win....