The Menopod wins at The Publisher Podcast Awards! 🏆
And a new episode of The North in Numbers is out this week.
A Wednesday afternoon towards the end of April is not often a time you would usually associate with a party, but after Laudable Podcasts was shortlisted for 10 awards - and incredibly won one of them - at The Publisher Podcast Awards, Wednesday afternoon became the new Friday night.
Our glam rags were on, and the Prosecco and gin was on standby, as we waited excitedly for the results in the virtual ceremony.
In this week’s Laudable Podcasts newsletter, we celebrate our win in The Publisher Podcast Awards.
And we also look at the new episode of The North in Numbers that was released this week.
Dan McLaughlin here, the newly-anointed award-winning podcast producer (but I don’t like to brag), to guide you through this week’s events.
🏆 The Menopod: Best Health and Wellbeing Podcast! 🏆
Usually, The Publisher Podcast Awards ceremony would be taking place in a glamorous setting with podcasters galore celebrating their trade.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be a party pooper, and like most things during lockdown, we had to make do from our respective homes.
Susan Lee, host of The Menopod, was on holiday in St Ives, monitoring the awards on a phone with a dodgy signal.
And waiting on tenterhooks in Salford was me, Dan McLaughlin, producer of the podcast. I had a small bottle of Prosecco waiting, primed hopefully for a celebratory glass or two.
Laudable Podcasts was shortlisted a massive 10 times in The Publisher Podcast Awards 2021.
From Alone Together to Scran, The North Poll to The North in Numbers, The Brink to Liminal, and The Edinburgh Briefing to Weekend Bigots, we were so proud that our diverse range of podcasts had been nominated.
We were pitted against prestigious colleagues with wonderful podcasts in their arsenal. It is rather clichéd to say, but we were genuinely honoured to be amongst titans in the podcasting world.
Of course, one wants to be humble and dignified in their reaction, but there is that small, nagging voice at the back of your head, purring to you: “Wouldn’t it be nice to be part of an award-winning podcast?”
The Best Coronavirus Podcast category arrived and went with the Coronapod earning the win, leaving Alone Together with a nomination, but not the main prize.
Scran deserved to be shortlisted for Best Food and Drink Podcast with BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme taking the title home.
And then came Best Health and Welling with The Menopod up against podcasts from Emma’s Diary, Women’s Health, and The Telegraph.
As soon as the judge mentioned the word “menopause”, we knew that The Menopod had been victorious!
And what a sense of elation that was! I whooped for joy, possibly upsetting my Salfordian neighbours. Sue sent me a message: “Oh my God!”
While there were some initial technical difficulties, and after praying to the phone signal gods, Sue was able to accept the award from her holiday in St Ives. She was gracious and modest, thanking her wonderful co-host Dawn Collinson and myself.
It was a wonderful and gratifying moment for The Menopod. Both Sue and Dawn have put in an extraordinary amount of work into the podcast, delivering a fascinating, entertaining and educational listen about an issue that will affect half of the population.
Their humour and empathy explores a subject that remains often untold and ignored, providing comfort, laughs, and important information for women over 45.
The second series of The Menopod is, I delighted to say, in production, and we hope to start releasing new episodes soon.
In the time being, don’t forget to give the podcast that tackles puberty’s evil, older sister one G&T at a time a listen.
Next up is a new offering from The North in Numbers, which was shortlisted in the Best Local & Community Podcast…
The North in Numbers: And they call it puppy love…
The second series of The North in Numbers continues with an exploration of the ups and downs of people who bought or adopted dogs in lockdown.
The latest episode of our podcast looks at the huge rise in pet ownership seen during the pandemic - in particular, the soaring number of dogs being bought and adopted across the North.
According to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association, since the start of the pandemic, 3.2 million households across the UK have acquired a new pet.
Annie Gouk, deputy editor of data and multimedia at Reach, speaks to experts who offer tips on training your pet and caring for them in these unusual times.
The North in Numbers host also looks at the darker side of puppy love in lockdown, investigating unscrupulous breeding and those dogs who are being sent to shelters or being resold.
It has been a wonderful week for Laudable Podcasts after being celebrated for our previous work, and we continue to publish exciting, new podcasts.
Give all of our podcasts, past and present, a listen - and of course, keep your eyes peeled for future offerings.
In the meantime, stay safe, stay positive, stay informed, and stay tuned.
- Dan McLaughlin