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Winners included My Dad Wrote A Porno, George The Poet and You Me and the Big C whose co-presenter, Rachael Bland, is pictured
Spoken word performer George The Poet and the BBC’s Brexitcast were among the winners at the British Podcast Awards.
The awards – which were launched in 2017 – also honoured BBC Radio 5 Live’s You, Me and the Big C, a podcast about cancer whose co-presenter Rachael Bland died last year.
Her husband, Steve Bland, collected the award along with the podcast’s co-hosts who said: “This one’s for Rachael”.
Celebrities including Fearne Cotton and Michael Sheen attended the ceremony.
The main prize at the podcast awards, the Audioboom Podcast Of The Year, was scooped by George the Poet, for Have You Heard George’s Podcast? – a series discussing topics such as the Grenfell Tower fire, poverty and music.
He also won four other awards including Best Arts and Culture and Smartest Podcast.
George the Poet is also known for singles like Follow the Leader, which he made with Maverick Sabre
Speaking afterwards, the London-born rapper and poet – whose real name is George Mpanga – said he first set up the podcast because he “wanted to give young people a way to rethink their situation, especially if they’re in the inner city like I was”.
The BBC’s Brexitcast, featuring political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Europe editor Katya Adler and co-hosts Chris Mason and Adam Fleming, won the Listeners’ Choice award.
Accepting the award, Fleming joked: “I’ve got no phone signal down here, has Brexit happened while we’ve been in here?”
Brexitcast co-hosts Laura Kuenssberg and Katya Adler
My Dad Wrote A Porno, hosted by Jamie Morton, James Cooper and Radio 1’s Alice Levine, won the Podcast Champion award, presented by Welsh actor Michael Sheen.
“It started with an unpublished ebook written by Jamie’s dad and handed to his son without telling him that the content was a little risque,” said Sheen, to the audience in London’s Kings Place on Saturday night.
“And when later, Jamie showed it to friends Alice and Jamie in the pub, podcasting was about to change forever.”
He said the show – which has sparked multiple sold-out tours and three series – “has done more than any other British podcast to show off the exciting future of podcasting”.
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An HBO comedy special based on My Dad Wrote A Porno aired this month
You, Me And The Big C was awarded Acast Moment of the Year.
Newsreader and presenter Bland, who died aged 40 last September nearly two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, was a host on the podcast along with Deborah James and Lauren Mahon.
Following her death, the BBC announced a podcast award in her honour, and the first ever winners were announced on Saturday – three women whose upcoming series will launch in September and look at addiction and mental health.
Other winners included:
- Spotlight Award: Footballer Peter Crouch for That Peter Crouch Podcast, his series on BBC Radio 5 Live
- Best Family Podcast: Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who is married to diver Tom Daley, for Surrogacy: A Family Frontier
- Best Comedy Supported by Spotify: Comedians Julia Davis and Vicki Pepperdine for Dear Joan and Jericha
- Best Radio Podcast: Multi Story, from BBC Local Radio
- Best Entertainment: This Paranormal Life from Rory Powers and Kit Grier
- Best True Crime: Case Notes presented by Tim Lihoreau on Classic FM
- Best Sport: The Totally Football Show with James Richardson