Announcing The Nominees for the Ear Worthy Awards

Here are the second annual Ear Worthy Award nominees. After our first annual nomination and awards process in July 2024, we’ve learned from the lessons of that inaugural nomination and award process. First, we’ve shortened the name from the unwieldy Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards to its new, succinct successor — the 2025 Ear Worthy Awards. If you don’t know what Ear Worthy is by now, then you won’t care if you are nominated or win an award.

Second, we’ve included more voices in the initial nominating process. Last year, it was our board. This year, nominations are based on input from our Board, select indie podcasters, podcast professionals, and our subscribed readers.

Third, we’ve streamlined and adjusted some of the award categories, focusing on areas where indie podcasts are particularly strong. Lastly, we decided to only include indie podcasts that Ear Worthy has reviewed. Fear not, that decision enabled us to still evaluate over 290 indie podcasts.

At Ear Worthy, we define independent “indie” podcasts as those produced by an individual without support from large podcast networks, such as Spotify, iHeart, Wondery, SiriusXM, or major production studios like Sony or Warner Music. Indie podcasts can belong to a small podcast network, be developed by a non-profit organization, a museum, or a quasi-governmental agency.

The Award Winners will be announced on Tuesday, August 26th.

Here are the 2025 nominees for the Ear Worthy Awards:

Best Interview Podcast

5 Random Questions — Danny Brown

Relationscapes — Blair Hodges

Beef — Bridget Todd

Conspiracy She Wrote — Cristen Conger

Best Life Lessons Podcast

Blue Sky — Bill Burke

Walk And Roll Live — Doug Vincent & Addie Rich

The Late Discovered Club — Catherine Asta

Multispective — Jennica Sadhwani

The Life Shift — Matt Gilhooly

Best Health & Wellness Podcast

The Remedy — Dr. Michael Shen

Getting Personal With Plant Medicine — Diana Ashley-Krach

Salad With A Side Of Fries — Jenn Trepeck

An Arm And A Leg — Dan Weissman

Best Movie Podcast

Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever — Ayesha Khan

Verbal Diorama — Em McGowan

What Went Wrong — Lizzie Bassett & Chris Winterbauer

Unequal Sequel — Dave & Rich

Bad Movies Rule — James Hauser & A cast too long to list

Best Music Podcast

History of Rock Music in 500 Songs — Andrew Hickey

Movement with Meklit Hadero — Meklit Hadero

Behind The Song — Janda Lane

Sticky Notes — Joshua Weilerstein

Best LGBTQIA+ Podcast

Rigour & Flow — Tamanda Walker & Aiwan Obinyan

I’m Feeling Queer Today — The Future Perfect Project

Queer Grove — Cherry Grove Archives Collection

Best Politics Podcast

The Political Junkie — Ken Rudin

Open To Debate — John Donvan

The Purple Principle — Robert Peace

Best History Podcast

Byte Sized Biographies — Philip Gibbons

’Tis But A Scratch — Richard Abels

Why Wars Happened — Emily Ross

It’s A History — Madison Schmidt

America: A history — Liam Heffernan

Best True-Crime Podcast

Familicide — Sam Mettler & Amy Chesler

Crime Adjacent — Mike Adamick

The Murder Sheet — Aine Cain & Kevin Greenlee

Best Education Podcast

The Sound School Podcast — Rob Rosenthal, Transom.org

Podcasting 2.0 In Practice — Claire Waite Brown

Teaching Through The Emotions Podcast — Betsy Burris

Art Educators Rule The World — Erica Rosenfeld Halverson

Creativity Found — Claire Waite Brown

Best Short-Form Podcast

5-Minute Biographies — Anthony Davis

Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic — Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD.

One Minute Podcast Tips — Danny Brown

The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast — Forrest Kelly

Arielle & Ned’s Daily Tips That May Or May Not Help You — Arielle Nissenblatt & Ned Donovan

Best Local Podcast

The Perrysburg Podcast — Kim Newlove

Jersey’s Best Podcast — Jeremy Schneider, NJ.Com

The Coop Tank — Steve Cooper

Toronto Mike’d Podcast — Toronto Mike

Best Audio Fiction Podcast

Silvertongues — Josie & Michael Herman

The Inn at The End of Things — Luna Alexander 

Josie’s Lonely Hearts Club — Rachel Music

Un(con)Trolled — Kimberly Renee

Best Limited Series Podcast

Shofar, So Good — Kate Mishkin

Shadow of Hope — Karen Ann Coburn

Uncovering Roots — Maxim Saakyan

Climbing The Walls — Danielle Elliot

The Final Service — Mateo Schimpf & Ray Suarez

Cramped — Kate Helen Downey

Floating Space — Katie Stokes

Best Humor Podcast

“Fine” Dining — Michael Ornelas

Dead And Kind Of Famous — Courtney Blomquist & Marissa Rivera

Another F*cking Horror Show — Monique Sanchez & Amy Traydon

The Incredible And Endlessly Fascinating Fate, Chance And Coincidence Show — Darren Keith

Best Podcasting Podcast

Podcasting Tech — Mathew Passy

Streamlined Solopreneur — Joe Casabona

Podcast Perspectives — Jeff Umbro

Podnews Weekly Review — James Cridland & Sam Sethi

Leverage Your Podcast — Lyndsay Phillips

Best Nature Podcast

Oceanography — Clark Marchese

6 Degrees Of Cats — Amanda B.

That’s Just Wild — Steve Backshall, Sarah Roberts, Lizzie Daly

TIL Climate — Lau Hesse Fisher, M.I.T.

A Matter Of Degrees — Dr. Leah Stokes & Dr. Katharine Wilkinson

What If We Get It Right — Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Best Lifestyle Podcast

Tails And Tassels — Gemma Smith

Sportly — Kavitha Davidson

Normal Curves — Regina Nuzzo & Kristin Cobb Sainani

This Is Propaganda — Josh & Malcolm

If Books Could Kill — Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri

Best Podcast Network That Supports Indie Podcasts

Mercury Podcast Network

Best Indie Podcast of the Year

Open To Debate

Salad With A Side Of Fries

If Books Could Kill

Multispective

5 Random Questions

Podnews Weekly Review

The Award Winners will be announced on Tuesday, August 26th.