Sam Sethi: 0:12

Hello and welcome back to Pot News Weekly. I'm joined today by Michelle Cobb. She's the executive director of the Podcast Academy. I feel like I should have trumpets coming in the background for this one. I don't know why. It just feels like it. Anyway. Michelle, Hello, How are you?

Michele Cobb: 0:28

I'm good. And you know, I want the trumpets Totally.

Sam Sethi: 0:31

Breaking the trumpets. Yeah, it feels like when the queen walked into a room, they'd always have the trumpets following her. That would be lovely, wouldn't it? Pretty much. Okay. When you walked into, you had a trumpet following you. That'll be funny.

Michele Cobb: 0:43

It would be funny, I think, for, like, the first two days, and then I'd be right.

Sam Sethi: 0:47

Anyway, I digress. Right. We're here to talk about the ambushes. What are the ambushes? Last one of the ambushes. Just for those who don't know.

Michele Cobb: 0:56

Well, the ambushes are the Awards for excellence in audio. So of course, podcasts are what take front and center stage at the Emmys. And we have a number of categories, and we are currently in the submission process. So you can submit to have your show potentially be a nominee or even a winner of the Emmys.

Sam Sethi: 1:21

Now, I've rudely on multiple occasions, called them the American Podcast Awards. No.

Michele Cobb: 1:28

They're not.

Sam Sethi: 1:29

No, I know. But every time I've gone to podcast movement, I've gone where is the rest of the world? So how do we get the rest of the world to submit? I know you've just opened it up for the Spanish market.

Michele Cobb: 1:42

Correct? So now there is a Spanish language and just one to start, see how it goes. But yeah, we actually have plenty of submissions from Canada, Australia, the UK, and really, although we're currently most of the categories in English with just the one in Spanish, you know, our long term plans are to expand that, but we have to have participation and you know, we are an academy, so that means the people who select the winners of the Emmys are members. So I encourage everyone, if you're going to submit to the Emmys, join, It's very inexpensive, $100 a year, and then you'll get a discount on your submissions and you'll get first invite to the Emmys in person so you can participate. Also, you can judge where an academy like the motion picture or the music academy. So it is the members that do the judging of the ambos themselves.

Sam Sethi: 2:41

Okay. Let's let's get a couple of other things. So submissions have opened when these submissions close.

Michele Cobb: 2:47

November 22nd.

Sam Sethi: 2:49

So let's.

Michele Cobb: 2:50

Get going. I know everyone likes to submit in the last week, but get going.

Sam Sethi: 2:54

Okay? And when I submit, what do I do? I mean, how long should be a submission? And, you know, are there any tips and hints as to what's a good submission and a bad submission?

Michele Cobb: 3:06

Yes. Well, you are submitting a single episode, so there's a couple of things that we recommend. First of all, if it's a fiction podcast that has a plot that you kind of need to know the beginning, you can submit the first episode in the series to give people footing. Regardless of the episode that you submit. It should be engaging because that is what is being judged. So make sure that you're putting your best foot forward and it is something that really grabs people at the start and makes them want to listen. The hosting is good, the tech is good. All of that is really strong because our judges are going to be listening to literally hundreds of podcasts. So yours wants to stand out and you want to really make sure that whatever episode you submit, you're truly, truly proud of.

Sam Sethi: 3:58

Okay, And when are the ambriz themselves and where are the numbers themselves?

Michele Cobb: 4:04

They're going to be in Chicago on March 31st of 2025. And I it gives me pause to say 2025, but that's that's what we're headed towards. So we will be in conjunction with podcast movement. We're kind of that opening night event of the show itself, and we encourage everyone to come in person. And if you're not coming to Chicago to stream online.

Sam Sethi: 4:29

And you talked about this being an audio podcasting awards, we have the rise of YouTube right now and video podcasting is certainly on the rise. Certainly it's something that the younger audience is very attracted to. Are you going to extend the BS to include video podcasting?

Michele Cobb: 4:48

Currently we're asking you to submit an audio. So your podcast can have a video, but we're asking you to submit the audio file so that we can hear it. That's what our focus is on at the moment.

Sam Sethi: 5:00

Okay. And last question, how can we extend this really beyond the borders? I mean, I know that you've got Academy members now in the UK, the Middle East. You've called them.

Michele Cobb: 5:11

Everywhere.

Sam Sethi: 5:13

Yes. Sprinkle around the world. But what can we do then to make this more of a global submission? Because it feels and I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just trying to be observant as to what I see. You know, actually, to be fair to you, the first year of the Ambriz that were in L.A., a couple of my friends from the UK actually won the award. Yeah. So just settled. No relation to me, won the award and a few other people. But the last two years that I've been to the embassies, there's been a very American leaning that how can we bring that back from me? Stop calling them the American Podcast Awards to the home base, which are more of a global definitely.

Michele Cobb: 5:58

Well, first, let's remember that 20% of our membership is outside the US, so we have plenty of people involved that are from outside the U.S. and it's really reminding people that anyone can submit. You can be making a podcast in your basement. That's amazing. You can be working at a big company. So it's really designed to be encouraging submissions from all walks of life globally. And I think it's just reminding people that we encourage those submissions regardless of where you are. And our goal is to continue to expand outside the English language. But in order to do that, we've got to get support. So that means joining, participating and submitting.

Sam Sethi: 6:42

Remind me, is it free to submit or is there a cost involved?

Michele Cobb: 6:45

There is a cost to submit. And as a member you get a significant discount on that cost. And there's ways to be supported with your submissions. So if you're an independent podcaster, you can actually put in for reimbursement from the podcasting seriously Fund. So, you know, we really encourage people to put themselves out there and I know a lot of times we stop ourselves from submitting it because we're not sure that we measure up. But if you don't put yourself out there, you're never going to know. And we really, you know, look at last year's big winner Ronald Young JR won three and he's like amazing and he's very much an independent podcaster and doing many, many things. Now I see his name everywhere, which is really cool.

Sam Sethi: 7:30

Right, Michel, Remind us then one more time, where do I go to submit.

Michele Cobb: 7:34

An biz dot com vm biz dot com? Either one will get you there. Do I encourage you to go to the Podcast Academy and join as well? So you get that discount, but don't be shy. And if you have any questions, you know you can email info at the podcast academy dot com and get help. We're here to support you.

Sam Sethi: 7:53

Excellent. I look forward to seeing the winners in Chicago.

Michele Cobb: 7:57

Yes, it'll be fun. And we're just in the process of figuring out and thinking about who we want to host the awards. So that's always a fun process. Last year was Trixie, Mattel, so lots of lots of fun and Larry Wilmore and we were in Vegas, so it's always a treat to go through the process of working on the show with the host.

Sam Sethi: 8:17

Can we get Ricky? I don't.

Michele Cobb: 8:20

Know. I would love that. We don't have that kind of money, I'm sure.

Sam Sethi: 8:24

But he's my neighbor. I'll go knock on his door and see what he says.

Michele Cobb: 8:28

Please do. Please do so.

Sam Sethi: 8:30

Michelle Cobb, thank you so much. Speech soon.

Michele Cobb: 8:33

Sounds good.