Malaga to host the gala ceremony for the First Ondas World Podcast Awards

• The awards, organized by PRISA Audio and Cadena SER in collaboration with Spotify, will be handed out on May 24 at the CaixaBank Soho Theater.
• The jury will announce the winners on February 23.
• With 888 contenders from more than 15 countries vying for the prizes, the gala is set to become a key event in the calendar for the podcast sector.

The city of Malaga is set to host the gala ceremony for the 1st Ondas World Podcast Awards on May 24 at the CaixaBank Soho Theater. The awards are organized by PRISA Audio and Cadena SER, in collaboration with Spotify, and have the support of the regional government – the Junta de Andalucía – as well as the provincial authority of Malaga (Diputación de Málaga) and Malaga City Council.

The official presentation of the awards took place this Tuesday, February 15, at a press conference attended by the mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre; the president of the Provincial Deputation of Malaga, Francisco Salado; the delegate of the Government of the Junta de Andalucía, Patricia Navarro; together with the managing director of PRISA Audio, María Jesús Espinosa de los Monteros, who was accompanied by members of PRISA management in Andalusia.

First to speak was the managing director of PRISA Audio, María Jesús Espinosa de los Monteros, who highlighted that "the marked commitment to internationalization, innovation and culture that have always characterized Malaga and that have made it a true gold standard in these areas, makes the city the perfect setting for the celebration of this awards ceremony, awards that are truly global in nature and that seek to give greater visibility to the world of the podcasts in Spanish, an industry in full bloom”.

Next, the central government’s delegate in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, took the podium, underlining that "for someone as committed to innovation and modernization as PRISA currently is, there is no better place to be than in Malaga" . Navarro explained that “when we were asked to collaborate on this project, we didn’t have a single doubt. We are a pioneering city in technological innovation and entrepreneurship and, just like podcast audiences, every day we go from strength to strength, hosting new projects and new companies that are building a promising future for our region”. Navarro stressed that the Andalusian Regional Government is also aware that in order to be more competitive they have to be more digital, “and that’s why we have a transformation plan, that’s why we have innovative companies, talent and training capacity to ensure that Malaga becomes a major European tech capital, and, indeed, a global one.”

The president of the Provincial Deputation of Malaga, Francisco Salado, said that the celebration of these awards is “great news for the city and the province”. He pointed out that podcasts have evolved enormously in recent years and have become an extremely useful tool. It’s crucial, he went on, that we recognize the importance that this content format has today. "The Provincial Deputation has always been and always will be behind great projects for Malaga, and this is a very important one", he said.

The mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, closed the presentation by highlighting that "the 1st Ondas World Podcast Awards will contribute to enhancing the cultural and technological reputation of Malaga at a national and international level”. Podcasts, he said, “have a truly global reach and there are 500 million people on the planet who use Spanish as their first language". De la Torre stressed that "podcasts are here to stay: consumption has grown exponentially in Spain, which is hugely important in the international market with one in three Spaniards listening to streamed content."

The winners of this the first edition of the Ondas World Podcast Awards will be announced on February 23 by a jury made up of experts from the worlds of audio, communication and advertising. There’ll be 15 awards in total, divided into three sections for national and international projects in Spanish with a further two specific prizes for podcasts in other languages.

With 888  contenders from more than 15 countries, these awards were established with the aim of giving greater visibility to the podcast industry and recognizing the work of its professionals, their creativity and innovation. The gala ceremony is set to become a key event in the calendar for the podcast sector

The awards gala will also be a key event in the program of activities that Cadena SER network is holding over the course of 2022 in Malaga to commemorate the 40th anniversary of radio broadcasts in the province.

Categories

A total of 399 candidates have been entered into the General category, from among whom will be chosen the winners of the best fiction podcast, best narrative nonfiction podcast, best conversational podcast, best branded-podcast, best experimental podcast, best international non-Spanish-language podcast, and best podcast in a co-official language of Spain.

In the Specific category, awards will be given to the best production and sound design, best script,  best production, best episode, the best actor in audio fiction, and the best host. There are 415 entries for this category, making it the one with the most contenders.

Finally, the special prizes section includes 52 candidates who’ll be competing for the best newcomer podcast and a further 22 contenders for most outstanding contribution to the industry and the consolidation of podcasts in Spain and Latin America.

A PRISA Audio commitment

The Ondas World Podcast Awards, organized by PRISA Audio and Cadena SER, in collaboration with Spotify, are set to be the key event dedicated exclusively to this sector in the Spanish-speaking world.

The awards follow in the footsteps of the renowned Ondas Awards that PRISA gives out annually through Ràdio Barcelona (Cadena SER), the oldest radio station in Spain. The Ondas are rightly considered to be the most prestigious radio and television awards in the country. Last year’s 68th edition, held on November 16, was a record-breaking affair in terms of entries received.

In a similar vein, the Ondas World Podcast Awards seek to pay tribute to the best productions from the world of podcasts, a sector experiencing rapid growth and one that PRISA has been committed to since 2016, when it launched Podium Podcast, a platform that offers nearly 200 productions.

In May 2021, and as part of its commitment to digital transformation and new formats, PRISA Audio was established, This is a transversal platform that integrates all the company's podcast content (EL PAÍS, AS, Cadena SER, Cadena DIAL and LOS40) as well as the Latin American stations (W Radio, Caracol Radio and ADN Chile), and Podium Podcast, among others.

Barely 10 months after its creation, PRISA Audio is already the world's leading producer of audio in Spanish. By the end of 2021, the PRISA platform had registered 412 million downloads and around 800 million listening hours, according to the company's internal data measured by Triton Digital, the leading firm for metrics in the digital audio industry. PRISA Audio is thus well on its way to becoming the greatest single agent of transformation in the Spanish language podcast industry.