MediaVoices this week awarded the winners of The Publisher Podcast & Newsletter Awards 2026 at a ceremony in London, following The Publisher Summit. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in the podcasts and newsletters which increasingly represent media audience and revenue growth. For increasing numbers of established publishers, podcasts and newsletters are no longer an ancillary or mere promotional activity.
Many have become major brands in their own right, competing with new-wave specialists for which podcasts and newsletters are the primary focus. As Flashes & Flames has noted, the “golden triangle” of podcasts, newsletters (and events) increasingly account for the growth prospects of new and established media brands.
In her masterclass at The Publisher Summit this week, Sarah Ebner (former newsletter head of the Financial Times) explained how newsletters can help publishers and individuals to create stronger audience relationships through engagement, habit, community and a distinctive voice — and what this means for subscriptions, membership, advertising and events.
It all reinforced the point that both newsletters and podcasts have come out of the shadows and are starting to propel generate highly attractive business models. In the era of AI-driven content, the future really might belong to such “personalized” media, many of which may supplant the main media brands which once spawned them.
That’s the wider significance of these MediaVoices Awards and the innovation and achievement they recognize.
The awards attracted hundreds of entries, coming together in strong Publisher Podcast shortlists and Publisher Newsletter shortlists. The judges from across the media industry assessed the podcasts on a range of criteria, including production quality, how well the product reflected the publisher’s brand, and the strategies to grow the audience. The following are extracts from their comments:
Publisher Podcast Awards winners
Best B2B Podcast – When Charity Goes Wrong, Haymarket Media. “B2B journalism at its very best”
Best Culture & Lifestyle Podcast – The Purpose Pioneers (The Positive News Podcast), Positive News. “A fantastic topic with a smart commercial strategy”
Best Daily Podcast – Daily Politics, New Statesman. “Impressive what this publisher achieves with a significantly smaller team than many others”
Best Deep Dive Podcast – Westminster Insider, Politico. “A much more engagig structure than just an interview”
Best Entertainment Podcast – The Official Game of Thrones Podcast: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO / Warner Bros. Discovery. “Proof of what a podcast can add to a successful TV show”
Best Food & Drink Podcast – Scran, The Scotsman. “A lovely regional and local celebration of food”
Best Health & Wellbeing Podcast – Strange Health, The Conversation. “An entertaining podcast with a winning combination of host discussion and academic specialists”
Best Hobbies & Special Interest Podcast – HistoryExtra Podcast, Immediate Media. “Great stories told passionately”
Best Investigative Podcast – Pipeline: Left to Die, The Daily Mail. “A masterclass in sttorytelling”
Best Limited Series – The Poppy Day Bomb, The Times & Sunday Times. “An ambitious series that doesn’t shy away from difficulty questions”
Best Local & Community Podcast – Love Scotland, Think Publishing. “This was a gorgeous listen, really well edited”
Best News & Analysis Podcast – Iran: The Latest, The Telegraph. “Great that this journalism is being done every day, even when mainstream attention has moved on”
Best Partner Podcast – In The Mixer, Reach plc. “No surprise that this podcast has hit its ambitious targets”
Best Political Podcast – Berlin Briefing, Deutsche Welle (DW). “Strategically important and very competently done”
Best Science & Medical Podcast – In Conversation, Medical News Today / Healthline Media. “A clear strategy and a very searchable library of episodes”
Best Sport Podcast – The Women’s Running Podcast, Anthem Publishing. “A tour de force of podcasting. Brilliant content delivered with passion, excitement and expertise”
Best Technology Podcast – Go Doxx Yourself, Reach plc. “Powerful human stories well recorded and presented”
Best Podcast Launch – The Mishal Husain Show, Bloomberg. “A brilliant interview podcast that gives readers insight into the journalistic process”.
Best Use of AI – Ukraine: The Latest, The Telegraph.
Best Video Podcast – Table For Four, Immediate Media. “Excellent evidence that a brand can extend into new media without losing its core appeal and focus”
Publisher Podcast Hero(es) of the Year 2026 – Rowan Hooper and Ollie Guillou, New Scientist
Publisher Podcast of the Year 2026 – When Charity Goes Wrong, Haymarket Media. “This high quality podcast scored highly in all the categories it entered”
Podcast Publisher of the Year 2026 – The Telegraph. “It produced consistently excellent work across a number of podcast categories. The UK news brand (which was recently acquired by Axel Springer) has a portfolio of some 30 active and legacy podcast shows across news, politics, investigations, sport and lifestyle, anchored by the Daily T flagship news podcast and a large war‑coverage franchise described as the UK’s only dedicated daily show on the Ukraine war. By early 2025, it had surpassed 100mn listens across more than 800 episodes and is the Telegraph’s most listened‑to podcast. Only about 25% of listens are in the UK, with the rest across the US, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It’s a genuinely international product, interesting at a time when the Telegraph’s new owner has global ambitions for the news brand itself.
See the full shortlist and winning podcasts on the Publisher Podcast Awards site.
Publisher Newsletter Awards winners
Best B2B Newsletter – Good morning from JUK, Marten Publishing. “A clear community focus serving its audience better than ever”
Best Daily Newsletter – The Knowledge. “An impressive revenue model shows other newsletter publishers what’s possible”
Best Deep Dive Newsletter – The Rest Is Politics Newsletter, Goalhanger. “A best-in-class example of how a newsletter can work together with a podcast and grow rapidly”
Best Entertainment & Culture Newsletter – Culture, The Telegraph. “Brilliant with a clear tone, widespread appeal and filled with personality”
Best Financial Newsletter – Independent Money, Independent Media. “Impressive commercial and growth plan with real thought behind it”
Best Food & Drink Newsletter – The Food and Drink Club newsletter, Irish Times. “Well-written and curated with good growth numbers”
Best Health & Lifestyle Newsletter – Fashion, The Times and Sunday Times. “A lively read with expert energy”
Best Individual-Led Newsletter: News & Current Affairs – The Will Hayward Newsletter, Throstle Worde Media. “High quality content has deservedly attracted an influential audience”
Best Individual-Led Newsletter: Specialist – Unhedged, Financial Times. “All round pacy and witty with a mix of content and formats to make it scrollable for the audience”
Best Limited Run Newsletter – Live Well For Longer, BBC Studios. :”A stunning piece of well researched journalism”
Best Local & Community Newsletter – Don’t Miss Margate, Don’t Miss Media Group. “An excellent entry across all criteria”
Best News & Analysis Newsletter – India Business Briefing, Financial Times. “A strong growth and solid story mix”
Best Partner Newsletter – Money – ISA special, The Times and Sunday Times. “A commercially smart piece of work showcasing money expertise”
Best Politics Newsletter – Politics Unwrapped, The i Paper. “Accessible design, easy and informative language and interactive touches”
Best Science Newsletter – Reuters Health Rounds, Reuters. “A superb smart newsletter, concise and simple”
Best Special Interest Newsletter – Off the Charts, The Economist. “A perfect example of how a newsletter can expand information for a specific audience subset”
Best Sport Newsletter – Miguel Delaney: Inside Football, Independent Media. “Enjoyable, authoritative and impressive”
Best Technology Newsletter – The AI Shift, Financial Times. “An excellent newsletter and an innovative format to answer some of the biggest questions about AI”
Best Newsletter Launch – The AI Shift, Financial Times. “A genuinely original format and easily sthe strongest submission in these awards”
Best Use of AI – Don’t Miss Margate, Don’t Miss Media Group.
Publisher Newsletter Hero of the Year 2026 – Harry Byford, The Knowledge
Publisher Newsletter of the Year 2026 – The AI Shift, Financial Times. “One of the strongest newsletter submissions we have ever read”
Newsletter Publisher of the Year 2026 – The Times and Sunday Times. “A number of publishers have very strong newsletter portfolios but this one stood out for its methodical approach to covering verticals, with smart strategy for the audience and revenue growth for each one”
See the full shortlist and winning newsletters on the Publisher Newsletter Awards site.
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