The iHeartPodcast Awards are returning live in March 2025 to SXSW and will honor 2024’s most innovative and influential voices and creators in podcasting. And as in years past, fans will be deciding the winner of the 2025 Podcast of the Year and voting has begun!
Fans help decide the winner of the coveted Podcast of the Year award by voting online at iHeartPodcastAwards.com. This year's Podcast of the Year nominees include "Normal Gossip," "Three," "Giggly Squad," "Call Her Daddy," "Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang," "Hysterical," "The Telepathy Tapes," "Who Killed JFK?," "Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD" and "The Good Whale." Fan voting will began on January 7th and runs through February 16th.
This year's iHeartPodcast Awards will take place live on March 10th at 7pm CT/8pm ET at, ACL Live at The Moody Theater. Fans will be able to tune in and stream live on select iHeartRadio stations, on the iHeartRadio app, as well as on iHeartRadio's YouTube channel.
Take a closer look at this years Podcast of the Year nominees below.
"Normal Gossip"
"Normal Gossip" delivers juicy, strange, funny, and utterly banal gossip about people you’ll never know and never meet. Host Kelsey McKinney discusses reader-submitted comedic gossip with guests, diving into the lives and decisions of complete strangers. The second-hand truth really is stranger than fiction.
"Three"
After midnight on July 6th, 2012, three teenage girls walked into the thick Appalachian woods somewhere along the Mason-Dixon line. Hours later, under the glow of a nearly full moon, only two walked out. The very last time Dave and Mary Neese saw their only child Skylar was in a grainy black-and-white video. In it, she's sneaking out of her ground-floor bedroom in the middle of the night, her purse over her shoulder, her brown hair swinging as she hurries across the small parking lot to a waiting car. What happened to Skylar Neese has become gothic American lore: the odd girl out in a vicious teenage triangle. But in the ten years since that fateful night beneath the West Virginia stars, a fuller portrait of what happened has emerged. From award-winning journalists Justine Harman and Holly Millea comes a gripping 10-part series featuring Skylar's family, closest friends, and law enforcement who lived the case– and are still living it.
"Giggly Squad"
Welcome to Giggly Squad. Each week, Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo make fun of everything, but most importantly themselves. They discuss pop culture, fashion trends, television, horoscopes, mental health, dating, and expose their personal lives. Also, they can't be managed.
"Call Her Daddy"
The most-listened to podcast by women. Alex Cooper’s "Call Her Daddy" has been creating conversation since 2018. Cooper cuts through the BS with topics and guests - asking the burning questions you want the answers to. There will be laughter, there will be tears. There will be everything in between.
"Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang"
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas.
"Hysterical"
Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it "all in their head?" The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.
"The Telepathy Tapes"
In a world that often dismisses the extraordinary as mere fantasy, "The Telepathy Tapes" dares to explore the profound abilities of non-speakers with autism—individuals who have long been misunderstood and underestimated. These silent communicators possess gifts that defy conventional understanding, from telepathy to otherworldly perceptions, challenging the limits of what we believe to be real. For years, their parents and teachers have quietly witnessed these remarkable abilities, knowing that the time to share their truth would eventually come. But now, as the evidence mounts, the time has come to reveal what has been hidden in plain sight. This groundbreaking series challenges everything we think we know about communication and the human mind, inviting viewers to step into a reality where the impossible is not only possible but happening every day. Through emotional stories and undeniable evidence, "The Telepathy Tapes" offers a fresh perspective on the profound connections that exist beyond words. Traveling with Neuroscientist Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell, witnessing mind-boggling telepathy tests and forging deeply intimate relationships with families around the globe - Host Ky Dickens invites you to contemplate the world through the eyes of those who speak without words. Prepare to be captivated, challenged, and ultimately transformed as the series shines a light on the untold capabilities of those who have been underestimated for far too long.
"Who Killed JFK?"
Who Killed JFK? For 60 years, we are still asking that question. In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's tragic assassination, legendary filmmaker Rob Reiner teams up with award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien to tell the history of America’s greatest murder mystery. They interview CIA officials, medical experts, Pulitzer-prize winning journalists, eyewitnesses and a former Secret Service agent who, in 2023, came forward with groundbreaking new evidence. They dig deep into the layers of the 60-year-old question 'Who Killed JFK?,' how that question has shaped America, and why it matters that we’re still asking it today.
"Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD"
The police tell us they are here to protect us. But what if their original purpose was something else altogether? Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way. As our society debates where policing is going, "Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD" explores where the police came from.
"The Good Whale"
Fans of the movie Free Willy are outraged to learn that the real whale who played Willy lives in a tiny pool at an amusement park in Mexico City. So well-intentioned experts embark on an epic science experiment to try to teach one celebrity orca how to be free — while the world watches.