GOVERNORS AWARD

Each year, the Governors of The Podcast Academy will select the winner of that year’s Governors Award. This award will be bestowed upon an individual, a show, a network, or a company that has contributed in a meaningful way to the growth of the podcasting industry.

Recipient of the 2025 Governors Award

Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life. The show is heard each week by over three million listeners on public radio stations and podcasts. Glass began his career as an intern at National Public Radio’s network headquarters in Washington, DC in 1978, when he was 19 years old. He put This American Life on the air in 1995. He also served as an editor for the groundbreaking podcasts Serial, S-Town,and Nice White Parents. Under Glass’s editorial direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including seven Peabody awards and the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for audio journalism. In 2021, This American Life episode “The Giant Pool of Money” was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, the first podcast ever so honored.

Recipient of the 2024 Governors Award

MALCOLM GLADWELL

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, Talking to Strangers, and The Bomber Mafia. He is the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audiobook and podcast production company that produces the podcasts “Revisionist History,” “Against the Rules with Michael Lewis,” “The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos,” and “Broken Record.”

Recipients of the 2023 Governor’s Award

STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, Satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Niño, true crime and Rosa Parks then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered. “Stuff You Should Know” is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and available on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.

Recipients of the 2022 Governors Award

Serial with

Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder

Serial Productions, a New York Times company, is the maker of the blockbuster podcasts Serial and S-Town with more than 743 million total downloads. Serial was a spin-off from “This American Life,” the iconic public radio program and podcast that reaches 5 million people per week and has won every major award for broadcasting excellence including the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for audio reporting.

Recipients of the 2021 Governors Award

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WTF with Marc Maron

Marc Maron and Brendan McDonald

‘WTF with Marc Maron’ has been a trailblazer for the medium since its inception and represents what’s unique about the industry,” said Chairman of the Podcast Academy, Donald Albright. “As co-creators, producers and owners of WTF, Marc and Brendan have served as global pioneers for podcasters big and small, both in front of and behind the mic. The Podcast Academy was humbled to honor WTF with the first-ever Governors Award.