Making a funny podcast is difficult enough without spending £300 entering an award you’ve never heard of, then discovering its comedy category contains four shows and somebody’s company podcast about pensions.
There are now a lot of podcast awards. Some can genuinely help a comedy podcast get noticed. Others are mainly useful for giving you something shiny to put on Instagram.
So, if you make a comedy podcast in the UK, which awards are actually worth looking at? Here are ten we’d have on the list, plus roughly when you need to think about entering them.
A quick note on dates: awards calendars change each year. The timings below are based on the latest published 2026 and 2027 schedules, so always check the individual awards before planning an entry.
1. British Podcast Awards
If you make a UK podcast, this is the obvious place to start.
The British Podcast Awards have become one of the biggest annual gatherings of the UK podcast industry, covering everything from major broadcasters and networks to independent shows. There is a dedicated Comedy category, alongside New Podcast, Best Host(s), Network or Publisher and the publicly voted Listeners’ Choice.
The competition is serious. The Comedy category regularly puts independent productions alongside established broadcasters, comedians and major podcast networks.
That shouldn’t put smaller shows off entering the comedy podcast awards category. Entries are judged across the quality of the idea and storytelling, production and listening experience, and impact and audience engagement. Having the biggest download number isn’t the entire competition.
Likely entry window: January/February to May. In 2026, the first deadline was 30 April and the extended deadline eventually ran to 28 May.
Awards: October. The 2026 ceremony takes place at Indigo at The O2 on 1 October.
Best for: UK comedy podcasts with a distinctive format, strong execution and a genuinely good episode to submit.
Worth knowing: Don’t automatically submit the episode with your biggest guest. Submit the one that best demonstrates what makes your show funny.
2. Independent Podcast Awards
For independent podcasters, these deserve particular attention.
The Independent Podcast Awards are specifically for independently produced podcasts from the UK and Ireland. Their definition excludes shows financially backed by large organisations and celebrity-fronted productions where podcasting is one of many revenue streams.
That makes the playing field rather different from awards where your three-person podcast made at home might find itself competing with a production carrying a sizeable budget and an established broadcasting name.
There is a dedicated Comedy category and the awards are designed around the work being produced by genuinely independent creators.
Likely entry window: Spring to June. For the 2026 awards, eligible episodes covered 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2026, with entries eventually extended until 22 June.
Shortlist: Usually around September. The 2026 shortlist is being announced in mid-September.
Awards: November. The 2026 ceremony takes place at Kings Place in London on 4 November.
Best for: genuinely independent comedy podcasts looking for meaningful recognition without needing a broadcaster-sized operation behind them.
Worth knowing: If you’re an indie show, this should be one of the first awards calendars you check each year.
3. The Audio Production Awards (APAs)
The Audio Production Awards, run by AudioUK, are a little different from most podcast awards because they primarily recognise the people making the work.
That makes them particularly interesting if you’re a producer, production team or independent studio rather than simply looking for an award for the podcast itself.
Their Comedy award is open to podcasts and other audio comedy, covering everything from satire and sketch to storytelling and stand-up. Judges are looking at creative ambition, production craft and, fairly importantly, whether the comedy actually lands. The emphasis is specifically on the producer or production team behind the entry.
There are plenty of other routes in too, including Entertainment, Presenter/Host, Hosting Team, Producer of the Year and, from 2026, Executive Producer of the Year and Best Use of Video.
The competition is serious. At the 2025 APAs, Jon Holmes and unusual won Gold in Comedy, Sony Music Podcasts took Silver and BBC Scotland took Bronze, with This Paranormal Life among the other nominees.
Entry window: July to mid-September. For 2026, entries opened on 1 July and closed at 2pm on 16 September.
Shortlist: October. The 2026 shortlist will be announced on 26 October.
Awards: November. The 2026 ceremony takes place at the BFI in London on 26 November.
Best for: comedy producers and production teams who want their craft recognised alongside the show itself.
Worth knowing: This isn’t simply an award for having the funniest podcast. Your production decisions, editorial judgement and execution are part of what you’re being judged on.
4. The Golden Lobes
Created by the team behind the Cheerful Earful comedy podcast festival, the Golden Lobes comedy podcast awards launched in 2025 specifically to celebrate funny podcasts, creators and moments in audio. That gives them a rather different feel from general podcast awards where comedy is one category among dozens.
They’re also unusually friendly to independent shows. Household names and publisher-backed podcasts compete alongside much smaller productions, with categories that recognise the bits of comedy podcasting that more conventional awards can miss.
There’s the Big Ears Award for Funniest Podcast, but also awards for scripted comedy, tangents, live shows, guests, bloopers, listener moments, artwork, social content and cult shows.
There was plenty of indie recognition too with Podomedy shows picking up multiple wins and Highly Commended recognition.
Entry window: Usually early in the year. For 2026, entries ran until 4 March.
Nominations: March. The 2026 nominees were announced on 26 March.
Awards: May. The 2026 ceremony took place at The Clapham Grand in London on 6 May.
Best for: comedy podcasts, particularly independents, that have a strong funny idea or a particular moment, episode or creative element worth putting forward.
Worth knowing: You don’t need to have made the definitive comedy podcast of the year. A brilliant tangent, blooper, guest, live show or piece of social content can give you another legitimate route into the awards.
5. The Ambies
This is where things become considerably more international.
The Ambies, presented by The Podcast Academy, recognise podcast production across storytelling, performance, production and innovation. They sit firmly within the professional podcast industry and include a Best Comedy Podcast category.
The interesting part for UK creators is that they aren’t restricted to American podcasts. For the 2027 awards, eligible shows need to have published at least three episodes during 2026.
Entry window: August to early November. The 2027 cycle opened on 17 August 2026, with regular entries closing on 9 October and late entries closing on 6 November.
Awards: Usually February or March. The 2027 ceremony date has not yet been published. The 2026 Ambies took place in February and the 2025 awards were held in March.
Best for: polished comedy podcasts with ambitions beyond the UK market, especially shows with strong writing, production or an unusual format.
Worth knowing: This probably isn’t where we’d start with a brand-new show. Once you have a genuinely strong body of work, however, it becomes much more interesting.
6. The Webby Awards
The advantage of a Webby Award is that people outside podcasting have heard of the Webbys.
They cover the wider world of digital creativity rather than podcasting alone, which can make the recognition particularly useful if you’re talking to brands, commissioners, agencies or production companies.
There are podcast comedy categories covering both shows and individual work, so you don’t necessarily need an entire series to be your strongest submission.
That individual episode route is worth noticing. If your show has produced one exceptional episode but you don’t feel the whole series is ready to compete, you can enter the work that shows you at your best.
Entry window: Starts in September and continues through the following awards season. The 31st Webbys opened on 15 September 2026, with the early entry deadline on 30 October.
Nominees: Early April.
Winners: Late April.
Awards ceremony: May. The 31st Annual Webby Awards show is scheduled for May 2027.
Best for: ambitious comedy podcasts, particularly those combining audio with a wider digital or creative presence.
Worth knowing: Think carefully about whether the show or a single episode gives you the strongest entry.
7. Signal Awards
The Signal Awards offer something particularly useful to comedy podcasters: lots of different ways into the competition.
Comedy can be recognised across shows, episodes and other formats, while there are also awards around writing, hosts, editing, sound design and other elements of podcast craft.
That means your route into an award doesn’t necessarily have to be “our entire podcast is the funniest podcast”.
Perhaps the writing is exceptional. Maybe the chemistry between the hosts is the strongest element. Maybe you made one ridiculous episode that represents the show better than anything else you’ve released.
Signal also has recognition specifically aimed at independent podcasting.
Entry window: Roughly March to summer, although extensions can run later. For 2026, entries opened in March, with an early deadline in May, a main deadline in June and extensions running through the summer. A final grace period closed on 11 September.
Finalists: Late September.
Winners: Mid-October.
Awards celebration: November. The 2026 winners’ event is scheduled for the second week of November.
Best for: shows with one particularly strong creative or production element that deserves recognition in its own right.
Worth knowing: Don’t scatter the same show across ten categories because they exist. Work out what you genuinely do unusually well.
8. The ARIAS
The Audio & Radio Industry Awards, or ARIAS, come from The Radio Academy rather than the podcast industry.
That makes them slightly different, but potentially very useful for comedy producers.
Podcasts and other forms of audio are eligible across the ARIAS unless an individual category says otherwise, putting podcast work directly alongside UK radio and professional audio production.
If your podcast feels closer to a professionally produced comedy programme than an informal chat show, this is one to investigate.
It also puts the work in front of people from the wider UK audio industry rather than keeping it entirely within the podcast awards circuit.
Entry window: January to February. For the 2026 ARIAS, entries opened on 7 January and closed in February, with judging beginning later that month.
Awards: May. The 2026 ceremony was held on 7 May at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London.
Best for: produced comedy, scripted formats, panel shows, audio entertainment and podcasts with obvious crossover into radio.
Worth knowing: Think beyond podcast downloads. Audience response, coverage, creative execution and the overall impact of the production can all help tell the story.
9. International Women’s Podcast Awards
The International Women’s Podcast Awards celebrate the work of women and diverse-gender creators across podcasting, both in front of the microphone and behind it.
They’re international, queer and trans inclusive, and open to everyone from solo independent podcasters to teams working at major audio companies. In 2025, entries came from 35 countries.
Unlike many awards, the IWPAs aren’t primarily organised around podcast genres. Instead, you submit a short piece of audio representing a particular moment of brilliance.
For comedy podcasters, that means the Moment of Comedy Gold category: up to ten minutes of audio that simply needs to make the judges laugh. That makes this an interesting option if you’ve produced one exceptional bit, sketch, exchange or completely unexpected moment without necessarily having an entire episode you want judged.
Podomedy show Limited Time Only won the comedy award in 2025.
Entry window: Roughly May to August. Entries for 2026 opened in May and eventually closed on 14 August 2026.
Awards: October. The 2026 ceremony takes place at Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto on 8 October 2026.
Best for: female and diverse-gender comedy hosts, writers, producers and creators with one particularly brilliant piece of audio.
Worth knowing: Downloads aren’t part of the judging criteria. The awards explicitly focus on the quality of the submitted moment rather than the size of the audience.
10. Women Who Podcast Awards
The Women Who Podcast Awards, organised by Women Who Podcast Magazine, are designed specifically to recognise independent women podcasters.
They’re much newer than many of the awards on this list, with the second annual awards taking place in 2026, but there’s a particularly relevant category for comedy creators: Laughter & Cheer - And it’s already proved a good hunting ground for independent comedy.
In 2026, Podomedy shows took the top two places in Laughter & Cheer: Limited Time Only, hosted by Susie Riddell and Esther Stanford, won first place, while Austen After Dark, hosted by Alice Nagle, finished second. SOUL Vibrant took third.
The wider awards include categories for storytelling, interviews, social impact, diversity and inclusion, alongside overall awards for areas such as audio and cover artwork.
That makes them particularly useful for independent podcasts that might struggle to get visibility alongside major studios and celebrity shows elsewhere.
Likely entry window: Spring to early summer. The awards launched their annual registration around May in their first cycles, so this is one to start watching from April/May each year.
Awards: August. The 2026 winners were announced in August.
Best for: independent women-led comedy podcasts, particularly shows building their first serious awards track record.
Worth knowing: This is still a relatively young awards programme, so it doesn’t carry the same wider industry recognition as the British Podcast Awards or Ambies. But for an indie female-led comedy show, the relevance of the category and accessible field can make it well worth entering.
Your comedy podcast awards calendar
If you want to plan ahead rather than discover an award three days before entries close, this is roughly what the year looks like:
January to February
ARIAS entries
Start preparing for the spring awards cycle
February to March
Golden Lobes entries
Ambies ceremony
Golden Lobes nominations usually follow shortly after entries close
March
Signal Awards entries begin
April to May
British Podcast Awards entries
Women Who Podcast Awards registration typically opens
Golden Lobes ceremony usually takes place in May
Webby Awards nominees and winners announced
May to June
Independent Podcast Awards entries
International Women’s Podcast Awards entries begin
Women Who Podcast Awards entry period
July to August
Audio Production Awards entries open
International Women’s Podcast Awards entries continue, usually closing in August
Women Who Podcast Awards winners announced
Ambies entries usually open in August
September
Audio Production Awards entries close
Webby Awards next season opens
Signal Awards final entry deadlines
Independent Podcast Awards shortlist
Ambies entries continue
October
British Podcast Awards ceremony
International Women’s Podcast Awards ceremony
Signal Awards winners announced
Audio Production Awards shortlist
Ambies regular deadline
Webby early-entry deadline
November
Independent Podcast Awards ceremony
Audio Production Awards ceremony
Signal Awards winners’ celebration
Ambies late-entry deadline
December
Generally quieter for entries, which makes it a good time to review your strongest episodes, pull together audience evidence and decide what you might submit the following year.
Dates move, but putting those windows in your calendar gives you a fighting chance of having the right audio, stats and supporting material ready before the deadline suddenly appears.
So which comedy podcast awards should you enter?
You don’t need to enter everything.
For a UK independent comedy podcast, the British Podcast Awards, Independent Podcast Awards and comedy-specific Golden Lobes are good places to start.
If there’s a standout producer or production team behind the show, look at the Audio Production Awards too. Women-led shows should also check the International Women’s Podcast Awards and Women Who Podcast Awards, where there are dedicated routes for comedy.
If you’re ready to look internationally, the Ambies, Webbys and Signal Awards open up a much bigger field. And if your show leans towards produced audio, scripted comedy or radio-style entertainment, keep the ARIAS on your radar.
An award entry is ultimately a pitch for your podcast. Judges are hearing a lot of shows, so a good podcast alone isn’t enough. The episode, clip or moment you submit needs to show them quickly what makes yours worth remembering.
Pick the category that genuinely fits. Submit the work that best represents the show. Give the judges useful evidence that people are listening, responding and coming back.
About Podomedy
Podomedy is an independent UK comedy podcast network and studio. Our shows and creators have received recognition across the British Podcast Awards, Independent Podcast Awards and other UK podcast and comedy awards.
If you need more help, our customisable Podcast Awards Template can help improve your visual storytelling.