2026 Ambies Judging Guidelines: All Categories, Listening Round 1

Thank you for participating as a judge in the 2026 Awards for Excellence in Audio: The Ambies! 

Welcome to the initial screening round! 

In this round, you will listen to a select set of entries in your category and listen to each entry for up to 15 minutes. Each entry will be timestamped with the portion of the episode you should judge.  After listening, you rank that submission on a 1-7 (7 highest) scale in a number of areas ranging from Engagement to Craftsmanship, and a variety of criteria in between. 

The details of the criteria specific to each category are found on the below links. 

For this early round, please only consider the quality of the show, and nothing else. When in doubt, we recommend that you err on the side of being generous. Your decisions will determine the top 15 finalists. These finalists will be sent to a larger set of panelists in the second round of listening, before being narrowed down to the top nominees.

Listening Notes

As you listen, you must set aside your personal preferences and judge from the perspective of a neutral listener.  Assume that you are listening to a podcast because this is a topic of interest to you. In addition to listening to the entire episode for entries up to 1 hour in length, we ask that you not vary the playback speed in any way.  

Listen for the highest quality: a polished, professional program coupled with a clean, clear technical production. We recommend that you either keep notes as you listen, or complete the judge survey immediately after you finish each episode.

Evaluation & Timeline 

To access your assigned entries and attendant evaluation forms, please go to:

https://ambiesjudging.awardsengine.com/

log in: your email address 

password: Podcast2026! 

You will see your assigned entries listed, and will be able to listen either through this platform, or by finding the podcast on your preferred listening platform.  Entries not only list the season and episode of the submission, but typically also include a link to the podcast online.  If you have any trouble finding this information, please reach out to Emma Harris (emma@thepodcastacademy.com).

Your results for this round of listening are due on Friday, November 7, 2025. (After this date, you will get another batch of titles in your same category.)

If you will not be able to complete your listening in the time allotted and/or if you see a podcast on your list that poses a conflict of interest as a judge, please let Emma Harris (emma@thepodcastacademy.com) know right away – you will be asked to skip the evaluation for any episode posing a conflict of interest. 

If you have questions, concerns, or issues with the listening platform just let us know by emailing Emma Harris emma@thepodcastacademy.com  — she'll help you out, or connect you with the appropriate person to troubleshoot your problem.