‘Wisecrack,’ Pablo Torre Win Top 2026 Ambies Awards for Audio Entertainment

“Wisecrack,” an innovative true-crime podcast revolving around comedian Edd Hedges, won the top prize of podcast of the year Tuesday night in Brooklyn at the sixth annual The Ambies awards ceremony honoring excellence in audio content.

The iHeartPodcasts series, hosted by experienced documentary and true crime journalist Jodi Tovay, looks at the bizarre confluence of events that engulfed Hedges after he returned to his hometown to perform at a charity event. Per iHeart’s description of “Wisecrack,” “What starts as a heartwarming homecoming quickly spirals into a chilling true crime tale of a downward spiral and a town shaken by murder.” “Wisecrack” also won additional trophies for nonfiction screenwriting, society and culture podcast and for production and sound design.

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ESPN veteran Pablo Torre was dubbed podcaster of the year for Meadowlark Media’s “Pablo Torre Finds Out” at the awards administered by The Podcast Academy. “Pablo Torre Finds Out” also got the nod for best sports podcast. The Ambies ceremony, hosted by comedian Wyatt Cenac, was held at the Arlo Williamsburg venue as part of the On the Air festival celebrating audio storytelling.

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Here is a full list of this year’s The Ambies winners:

Vanguard Podcaster of the Year
Pablo Torre

Podcast of The Year
Wisecrack
Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

Best Ad Read
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
SiriusXM

Best Branded Podcast
Sesame Street: Cookie Monster Mysteries
Audible Studios,Sesame Workshop

Best Business Podcast
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR

Best Comedy Podcast
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
SiriusXM, Team Coco

Best DIY Podcast
Redacted History
Dr. Andre White, Airwave

Best Documentary Podcast
The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby
CBC, BBC World Service

Best Emerging Podcast
How Is This Better?
COURIER Newsroom

Best Entertainment Podcast
Twenty Thousand Hertz
Defacto Sound

Best Fiction Podcast
Red for Revolution
Meta Mana Media

Best History Podcast
Our Ancestors Were Messy
Coco Hill Productions

Best Indie Podcast
Our Ancestors Were Messy
Coco Hill Productions

Best Indie Podcast Host or Hosts
Jamie Feldman and Rachel Webster
Debt Heads
Captain and the Fox

Best Interview Podcast
Death, Sex & Money
Slate

Best Knowledge, Science or Tech Podcast
Radiolab
New York Public Radio

Best News & Politics
Reveal
Reveal and PRX

Best Original Score and Music Supervision
Marcus Bagala and Sam Ewing
DC High Volume: Batman
DC Comics, Realm

Best Performance in Audio Fiction
Maulik Pancholy, Murray Bartlett, Poorna Jagannathan, Karan Soni, Anna Camp, Adam Pally, Margo Martindale, Richard Kind, Conrad Ricamora, Iqbal Theba, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Padma Lakshmi, et al.
Murder at the Patel Motel
Broadway Video, Audible

Best Personal Growth / Spirituality Podcast
Wild Card with Rachel Martin
NPR

Best Podcast for Kids
Terrestrials
WNYC Studios

Best Podcast Host or Hosts
Rachel Martin
Wild Card with Rachel Martin
NPR

Best Production and Sound Design
Alex Vespestad, Steven Perez, and Cooper Skinner
Wisecrack
Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

Best Reporting
Robyn Semien
Question Everything
Placement Theory

Best Scriptwriting, Fiction
Jana Naomi Smith
Red for Revolution
Meta Mana Media

Best Scriptwriting, Non-Fiction
Charles Forbes and Edd Hedges
Wisecrack
Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

Best Society and Culture Podcast
Wisecrack
Tenderfoot TV , iHeartPodcasts

Best Spanish Language Narrative Podcast – Fiction or Nonfiction
No Me Provoquen
Sonoro

Best Sports Podcast
Pablo Torre Finds Out
Meadowlark Media

Best True Crime Podcast
Sea of Lies
Produced by What’s the Story Sounds for CBC

Best Use of Video in a Podcast
Tales Unrolled
Sonoro

Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast
Embodied
WUNC

Podcast Advertiser Innovator Award
Charlie’s Place
Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, Visit Myrtle Beach, Pushkin

(Pictured: Pablo Torre and Wyatt Cenac)

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