Celebrating the Ambies winners
An examination of our troubled relationship with fatness sweeps the awards
Hi storytellers —
It’s a homework week! Your assignment this week will be to listen to “The Curious Death of Todd Henry,” from Todd Henry’s podcast for creators, Daily Creative. I’ll get to why in a minute, but first, who won top honors for podcast excellence at the Ambies?
If you haven’t yet heard of the Ambies, they’re the podcast industry’s answer to the Oscars — but these awards are voted on by members of The Podcast Academy, not the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. (For a much younger, smaller ceremony, though, it has a bit of that red carpet flair!)
Among the most notable of the winners are Sound Judgment guest Ronald Young Jr., who won three awards, the most trophies of the night, for Weight for It. Slate’s Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas won best podcast of the year, which says a lot not just about Slow Burn’s consistently stellar quality but also about where we are politically right now. Malcolm Gladwell was honored for his influence on the industry with the Governor’s Award.
Sound Judgment guests were well represented at the Ambies! From the beginning, my goal has been to help listeners and readers learn from today’s best storytellers. I’m thrilled to be able to “go backstage” with so many winners and nominees. Listen to these episodes:
Ronald Young Jr., Weight for It
Winner: Best Indie Podcast, Best Indie Host, Best Society and Culture Podcast
Weight for It's Ronald Young Jr.: Unlocking the Key to Storytelling Success
Emily Silverman, The Nocturnists
Nominee: Best Indie Podcast
How Storytelling Can Heal Your Life, featuring Emily Silverman, The Nocturnists
Jonathan Menjivar, Classy
Nominee: Best Nonfiction Screenwriting
Classy's Jonathan Menjivar: The Fine, Awkward Art of the Personal Audio Documentary
Martine Powers, The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop
Winner: Best Podcast Host
[Bonus] Introducing Sound School: Tracking Partners
New on our feed today, we had asked Rob Rosenthal, host of the audio craft podcast Sound School, to allow us to share one of my favorite of his episodes with you. Rob takes us into The Washington Post’s studios as Martine Powers works with producer Rennie Svirnovsky to painstakingly — and hilariously — track an episode of The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop. What a coincidence that today’s episode demonstrates just how Martine achieves such an award-winning performance as a narrator (and how you can, too)!
Lauren Chooljian, The 13th Step
Winner: Best Reporting
Finally, coming up later in April: I go behind the scenes with New Hampshire Public Radio host/reporter Lauren Chooljian and story editor Alison MacAdam of The 13th Step. We dissect how they constructed the narrative arc of this groundbreaking investigation into sexual misconduct in the addiction treatment industry, how they wrestled with organizing the series while the story continued to unfold, and what their work means in the fight for press freedom.
Bravery = Discomfort. That’s a Good Thing
Back to your homework: On next week’s show, host Todd Henry, producer Joshua Gott and I dissect “The Curious Death of Todd Henry,” episode 4 of their podcast Daily Creative.
Todd is the author of several books for creative professionals, including The Accidental Creative and The Daily Creative, which I keep on my desk. He started podcasting before most of us had ever heard the term, back in 2006, and has been continuously podcasting ever since. 😲
But as Todd wrote about the crucial, unsung role of bravery in creative work for his newest book, The Brave Habit, he began asking himself whether he was living his most courageous life. He didn’t like what he saw in the mirror. And that led to some scary decisions.
We talk about how he and Joshua wrestled with how to tell this story as we dissect “The Curious Death of Todd Henry” on next week’s episode. Todd’s surprising choice (you’ll have to listen) made such an impact on me that I began taking a harder look at the role bravery plays — and often doesn’t — in my creative life. I’m also not sure I like the answers. This thorny examination is leading me to some new paths — and with that, to contemplating letting go of parts of my creative life that I believed I’d been happy with. Or even deliberately killing them off.
If you’re in a period of transition or getting an inkling that you should be, you’ll find the Daily Creative episode, “The Curious Death of Todd Henry,” provocative. Listen before April 3, when Todd, Joshua and I pull it apart.
When you listen, drop me a note and answer this question: Does this episode make you want to change anything you’re doing? What is it? Why?
Listener and reader Andrew Monaghan wrote with his feedback on two Sound Judgment workshops. Here’s what he had to say.
“I've been struggling with aspects of my podcast for a while now. I had the nagging feeling that there was more I should be doing to create more interesting and engaging interviews, but I wasn't sure quite where to start. Recording and publishing an episode takes me a bit of time, and I was wondering if it was all worth it.
Then, I connected with Elaine. I listened to a few episodes of Sound Judgement and realized I had some growth to do to uplevel what I was doing! I attended two of Elaine's workshops: "How to Hook Your Audience and Keep Them Coming Back" and "Mastering the Art of the Interview." I am using what I learned to revamp my interviews.
I'm choosing guests better, have a better process to collaborate with them beforehand, know how the professionals plan interview structures (and am emulating them), and get so much more out of the work it takes to produce an episode.
Elaine creates collaborative workshops that are practical and easy for someone like me to follow and start implementing my takeaways.
I highly recommend them and I plan to take another of her workshops in the coming weeks.”
Join us! Our next two workshops are coming up fast.
April 5: Mastering the Art of the Interview
Interviews are the foundation of all good nonfiction storytelling and conversations. 10 ways to ask better questions and get better answers.
April 11: Success in Guesting: Be a Great Guest & Get Great Guests
Every prospective podcast guest and thought leader should learn how producers and hosts select guests in the first place. And every podcast producer should learn what it takes to be a great guest — because you should always be on both sides of the mic. This is your insider’s guide to one of the most important pieces of the podcast puzzle.
Thanks, as always, for being with me on this creative journey. I’m loving hearing from you! What are you working on? What are you dreaming of creating? What are your biggest challenges right now? Tell me in the comments or write to me. (Click on my byline and you’ll find the email.)
I write back to everyone I hear from. Depending on deadlines, it can take a little while. Thanks in advance for your patience.
As always, it is a joy to be with you.
Elaine