Award Competition Info

Awards are political, and everybody has an agenda.
If you spend your life chasing them, you’ll drive yourself nuts.

— Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) to Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler)
Parks and Recreation TV show, season 2 episode 17 — “Woman of the Year”

While the quote above came from a TV show, it does have some truth to it. Any awards program generates stiff competition from an increasing number of entrants. Realize that most of the outcome hinges on luck, timing, and other considerations that are out of the narrator’s control.

Also remember that if your title doesn’t receive nominations and awards, it is not a measure of your talent or competence. I believe that the best reward is continuing to do work I love!

This extensive list of audiobook award competitions will help you learn when, where, and how to submit your work for consideration. Please note:

Some contests require entrance fees.
A particular competition may not be open to narrators for submissions.
You may want to sign up for an organization’s newsletters to be alerted about their opening and deadline dates.
You can certainly self-publish your audiobooks, including Public Domain titles, and receive consideration in most competitions. Narrators have submitted and earned nominations and even the awards!

I’ve used italics when quoting from the award websites. Each header is linked to the organization presenting the award.

American Library Association (ALA)

The American Library Association offers several audiobook awards that aren’t open to narrator submissions:

Listen List: Outstanding Narration Award, an annual list of the twelve most outstanding audiobooks published each year as judged by the quality of their narration. Each one is annotated with “Listen-Alikes”. Per the linked page: The Council announces the winning titles at the CODES Book and Media Awards Reception, held the Sunday of each ALA Midwinter Meeting.
- The Submission Guidelines page states: Publishers should be aware that the Council listens to hundreds of titles each year, and while individual members do indeed listen and make formal requests for non-solicited titles to be added to the consideration list, this is not a typical occurrence….Authors and narrators should speak to their publishers if they wish their titles to be sent to the members of the Council.

Odyssey Award, which recognizes the best audiobook production for youth in a given year.
- The Policies page states:
  - The ALSC/Booklist/YALSA Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production shall be awarded annually to the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults.
  - The committee will consider and vote on titles published within their assigned calendar year, January 1 to October 31, in addition to those published between November 1 and December 31 of the previous year.
  - Publishers, authors, or editors may not suggest or nominate their own titles.

You can watch the BookList webinar And the Award Goes to: The People and Process Behind ALA’s Audiobook Awards and check out the webinar Resources list.

Anna Ats Deadline Awards

Not much information is available about these awards. Per this Instagram video, narrator André Santana is one of the co-founders, and the awards started in 2024.

Two are offered with submission deadlines of 30 November 2025:

The Pathfinder Award aims to celebrate a newer underrepresented narrator with 1-10 titles who has shown great potential for their future audiobook work. The winner of the Pathfinder Award will receive a $1000 prize, a trophy, and a year of marketing support.
- 2025 Submission Form
The Innovator Award aims to celebrate performances that show the vivid artistry of audiobooks. We will award one narrator who delivers landmark performances, shows innovative commitment to the craft, and remind us of the power of storytelling. The winner of the Innovator Award will receive a $1000 prize and a trophy.
- 2025 Submission Form

AudiobookReviewer.com

Annual awards are based on the audiobooks reviewed in the year. Books submitted beginning November 1st are considered for the next year’s awards. Winners are announced on December 1st.
Reviews require payment.
- They are only available in certain genres to those who can supply a US download code on Audible.com.
- Authors, Publishers, and Narrators may submit a book for review. They review in most categories but do not accept Self-Help books of any kind.
- Several options are offered and explained on this page.
The Reviewers Choice Award is presented to the author of the book whose book is believed to deserve higher than the standard 5 Star Rating.

AudioFile Magazine

The magazine states that its monthly Earphones Awards are given by AudioFile to truly exceptional titles that excel in narrative voice and style, characterizations, suitability to audio, and enhancement of the text. The Earphones Awards stem from the reviews at the heart of the magazine.

You can see the current month’s list at this link.
AudioFile does not charge for its reviews.
You can submit a title for review consideration with this form. Be aware that AudioFile receives 1000s of requests and couldn’t possibly review every title. You might stand a better chance of being selected if you pitch a title for a certain issue. You can see the magazine’s Editorial Calendar in their Media Kit linked on this page.
I compiled the tweets from a 10/29/14 Twitter chat where people asked questions about the audiobook review process.

Audio Publishers Association (APA)

On its Audie Awards page, the APA describes these awards as the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Publishers and rights holders enter titles in various categories for recognition of achievement. Finalists are selected, and then one winner is awarded in each category at the Audies Gala.

Entries are open in 2 “waves” from June-September of each year for titles published in the business year running from 1 November through 31 October. The competition is open to non-members of the APA, but their entry fee is greater than the one for members. The APA announces the exact date for submission periods each year.
- Titles published 1 November through 31 July should be submitted in June or early July.
- Titles published 1 August through 31 October should be submitted between August and early October.
Narrators may enter self-published work. If entering a title from a publisher or indie author, the narrator may enter the book with rights holder approval.
Each entry has a registration fee. In 2024, APA members paid $110 per entry.
Awards are announced each year in March at the Audies Gala.
This page explains the Judging Process and Criteria.

Golden Crown Literary Awards

Entry dates are in 4 tiers based on publication date. Refer to the chart on the Audiobook Narrator Awards FAQs page.
The 2025 audiobook entry fee is $45.
Select criteria:
- Any genre—fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, etc.—is eligible as long as it includes significant themes, characters, situations, or other content about women or sapphically aligned nonbinary people who are romantically and/or sexually attracted to women or sapphically aligned nonbinary people.
- Nominated audiobooks must be narrated by humans to be eligible for an Audiobook Narrator Award. Audiobooks voiced by AI technologies are not eligible.
- Anyone can nominate a book, including publishers, authors, and readers.
- We welcome nominations of self-published books.
- Audiobook Narrator Award – source material a minimum of 40,000 words
- If submitting an audiobook, if the audiobook being nominated is available in the US marketplace of Audible, please indicate that on the nomination form and no file is required. If it is not available on Audible, you will need to upload a DRM free .mp3/ .mp4 file of the full audiobook.
- For Audiobook Narrator Award, copies must be submitted in a single mp3 or mp4 file inclusive of the entire work. For works released by Tantor or Audible Studios, files will be obtained directly from the audiobook publisher.
- Audiobooks, books, and covers created by generative artificial intelligence (AI) are ineligible for a Goldie Award. AI-assisted books and covers are eligible.

Grammys®

This page explains the Recording Academy Grammy® Awards Process.
Recording Academy members and record companies enter recordings and music videos released during the eligibility year which they consider worthy of recognition in the GRAMMY Awards process.
Membership types and requirements are listed on this page. This page lists the steps to apply for membership. Note: The Recording Academy steadfastly refers to its members as “musicians.” Audiobook narrators are still recording artists. You and the 2 people who refer you are not required to be musicians!
Narrators who are Recording Academy members may submit their audiobooks for Grammy® consideration with no fee.
Entries are submitted each year in July/August.
- First round voting occurs in September/October.
- Nominations are announced in November.
- The membership votes on the nominees in each category in December.
- Awards are announced in February. The Best Audio Book category is not announced on TV but in the Premiere Ceremony in the afternoon of the television broadcast.
This article discusses the celebrities voicing audiobooks and winning Grammys® for them.

Hugo Awards

The annual Hugo Awards are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), which is also responsible for administering them.

While audiobooks aren’t specifically listed as an entry option, the eligibility requirements don’t exclude them, either:

Works published electronically rather than on paper have always been accepted as nominees. A decision of the 2009 WSFS Business Meeting formally acknowledged this by ratifying a Constitutional Amendment that added the words “or the equivalent in other media” to various category definitions. There is no requirement that a work be published on paper (for written/graphic fiction and non fiction), on film or video tape (for dramatic presentations), or that it be distributed through any traditional methods such as bookstores, movie theatres, etc…Aside from the fundamental distinctions between written, graphic, and dramatic works, medium of distribution has nothing to do with a work’s eligibility.

They have no formal submission process.
Members of the current and previous Worldcons find, nominate, and vote on the entries.
The only way to be a member of WSFS is to join the current World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon). There is no way to join WSFS without becoming a member of the current Worldcon.
You can make recommendations on Third-Party Recommending Sites listed on this page.
You have to join the World Science Fiction Society and pay membership dues to WSFS in order to vote.
The nomination process starts in January, so you need to become a member
More information is on the FAQ page.

Independent Book Publisher Association Award

Formerly known as the IPBA Ben Franklin Award, the organization offers the IPBA Book Award.

IBPA Book Award entrants must be current members of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).
They have 3 audiobook categories:
- Fiction
- Non-fiction
- Children’s/Young Adult
For audiobooks, a single copy of the completed Entry Label must be submitted along with three Audible gift codes – that’s one code for each judge. If your audiobook is not available on Audible, contact Terry Nathan at terry@ibpa-online.org for additional options before entering the competition.
This page shows the judging form for audiobooks.

Independent Press Awards

In all honesty, this awards competition looks like a money grab to me. The rules offer no information about the judging process and instead talk about how they will promote those who are selected for awards. I think they may be banking (pun intended) on name confusion with the good reputation of the Independent Book Publisher Association Awards above.

Open to mid-size and small press; self-published; independent publishers & authors
Initial entry costs $125. The cost is $75 for each additional category.
Audiobook categories are fiction, non-fiction, and children’s.
If your book wins, you can go to the awards dinner at IPA BookCamp for an additional fee.

Independent Publisher Book Awards

The IPPY Awards shine a spotlight on the exceptional work being done by independent, university, and self-published authors.

They define “independent” as:
- Independently owned and operated publishers
- Publishers operated by foundations or universities
- Long-established independent publishers now part of conglomerates but still operating autonomously and producing fewer than 100 titles per year
They have 4 audiobook categories:
- Fiction
- Mystery/Thriller
- Non-fiction – Personal
- Non-fiction – Informational
This page has eligibility and entry guidelines. Fees ranged from $79-99 in 2024.

International Thriller Writers Awards

They have an award for Best Audiobook Thriller of the Year. Submission deadlines between 31 August and 30 November are staggered based on publication dates. All publication dates must fall in the current year.

The application form is at the bottom of this page. These awards have no submission fees.

Finalists are announced in February, and winners are announced during an awards banquet held at Thrillerfest in May or June.

Criteria:

In order for a novel, short story, or audiobook to be eligible for the 2026 Thriller Awards, the author must be an Active ITW member. If they are not an Active member, they may apply for membership. If the author does not qualify for Active status, then the publisher must be an ITW-recognized publisher.
All audiobooks first published in English by an ITW Recognized Publisher or from an ITW Active Member, which have not been submitted to the Thriller Awards in any other format (print or e-book) in a previous year.
Self-published novels, short stories, and audiobooks are eligible for the 2026 Thriller Awards provided the author is an ITW Active member.
An audiobook is eligible for the 2026 Thriller Awards even if the print book and/or e-book was released in a previous year, provided the audiobook meets all the eligibility requirements. However, if an earlier version of that book was submitted to the Thriller Awards in any format in a previous year, then the audiobook version is not eligible.
Audiobooks must be submitted via Audible link only.

One Voice Conference

Gravy for the Brain holds 2 sessions of this conference each year: May in the UK, and August in the US. J. Michael Collins co-sponsors the US event.
Each country’s conference offers 2 audiobook awards: Best Performance Factual, and Best Performance Fiction.
Narrators may self-enter at no cost.

Professional Audiobook Narrators Association (PANA)

You must be a PANA member to be considered for the yearly Narrator of Distinction Award..

The linked page below contains the full information about the award.

Narrator of Distinction

Free annual program that will highlight PANA members who demonstrate the power of human vocal artistry, advance the craft of narration, and represent some of the strongest audiobook performances each year encompassing vast ranges of style and talent-based criteria.
Performances will be judged by a panel of jurors affiliated with the audiobook industry.
The audiobook submitted must be available for purchase on an industry standard retail platform (i.e. Audible, Libro.fm, etc.) during the time specified for the current award cycle.
Minimum audiobook length of 3 hours.
Only single narrator audiobooks at this time. No multicast, full cast, duel, or duet projects will be eligible.
Limited to 1 entry per year.
Members will receive an email from PANA when the submission window is open for the current award cycle.
- For the 2025 cycle:
  - May 1st Submissions open for the NODs.
  - May 22nd: Deadline to submit for the NODs.
  - Audiobooks are judged by jurors from June through September to determine winners.
  - Winners will be announced at the annual PANA meeting in October!

While not an award, narrators may submit themselves to be highlighted in PANA’s monthly Narrator Spotlight:

The Narrator Spotlight is a program for celebrating narrators.

Every month, 1 active PANA member is chosen to be recognized for their work in the audiobook industry.

Selected members will have a graphic created including a short writeup about their work and accomplishments.

The goal is to use our organization’s platform to highlight a variety of members and provide new media to promote their work. We’ve partnered with over 50 producers and casting directors, and every quarter we’ll be sending them our NSLs to highlight new faces and information about PANA narrators!

You are eligible to be highlighted once every 3 years.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards

The Nebula Awards® are voted on and presented by full, senior, and associate members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. The eligibility rules state:

Works such as audiobooks, podcasts, and similar type works shall be placed in an existing category as deemed appropriate by the Nebula Awards® Commissioner, based on their word or page count and other qualities as determined by the Commissioner.
Performance works such as dramatic podcasts may, in the judgment of the Commissioner, be placed in the Bradbury category rather than text categories.
All works that are published and available to the public in a calendar year will be taken as eligible for that calendar year for purposes of the Nebula awards, regardless of the issue date on the cover or other label.

Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS)

SOVAS offers audiobook awards in 18 categories.

Entrants may submit an unedited segment of the audiobook up to but not exceeding 5 MINUTES in duration. (ENGLISH LANGUAGE ONLY)
Per the Rules and Fees page:

Work entered for the 2026 award season, must have been completed between January 1, 2023 through October 9, 2025
The work entered into the Voice Arts® Awards contest for 2026, must have been aired, broadcast, published, or otherwise made available to the public or B2B (business to business) constituents within the “Eligibility Period.”

Categories may be entered by an independent artist, (non-company) or by a company (Corporation, LLC, etc.). Entries are accepted from anywhere in the world as long as it is submitted in the designated language categories.
Any media work created using the human voice as a primary element for communicating the intent, purpose, engagement, and experience to be derived from the work.
You may make entries from mid-May through mid-October with an escalating scale of fees from “Super Early Bird” to “Regular Price.”

The Speakies (British Audio Awards)

This award is new in 2025 and offered in 16 audiobook categories.
Awards are dedicated to celebrating excellence in audiobooks and audio drama, brought to you by The Bookseller and The Stage.
Narrators may submit.
Submitters do not need to be based in the UK and Ireland, but the audio must have been made available to listeners in the UK and Ireland during the period. Audiobooks need to have been published in the UK and Ireland during the year July 2024 to end June 2025.
In this age of AI and the non-human, we plan to double-down on the human – from the writing to the adaption to the proof-listening to the narration. This is the story about audio that we want to tell, and it’ll be the range and quality of the shortlists through which we will tell it.
The submission window opened in May and closed 7 July. Finalists were announced in mid-September, and winners will be announced in late November.

Sultry Listeners Awards

These awards are described as the original and only audiobook awards for 1.) the romance genre and 2.) nominated and voted by listeners.

The Categories page shows they’re available in 16 sub-categories of the romance genre and 3 narrator categories.
Submissions are open for the month of August. They are reviewed for adherence to the requirements and removal of duplicate submissions.
Voting occurs during the first 2 weeks of October.
Apparently narrators may submit their work.
I saw no mention of fees.

Since I started this page with a TV character’s quote about awards, I’ll end it with another one, this time from Frasier, season 1 episode 18, “And The Whimper Is”, which I happened to re-watch while working on this article.

Character Fletcher Grey (John McMartin) offers sound advice (pun intended) to everyone who doesn’t win the award.