The Academy of Podcasters is a group of influential contributors to the podcast community who come together every year to vote on the winners of their annual Awards. These contributors are also in charge of voting annual inductees into the Hall of Fame.
The Academy of Podcasters Awards recognize and honor the best podcasters in their given niches and categories of podcasting. This event will also include annual inductions into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame for podcasters who have revolutionized the podcasting space.
The 2017 Hall of Fame Inductees are:
Brian Ibbott is best known for his podcast Coverville. Coverville is a podcast that started in 2004, produced every Wednesday, that focuses on cover songs of a previously written song. Coverville is also one of the longest running podcasts in the iTunes Store, and is in the top rankings for overall episode numbers. The show has won multiple awards over the years, and has been nominated as an AofP Awards finalist for Best Music Podcast.
Dan Klass has been releasing the award-winning The Bitterest Pill since 2004. Dan also co-wrote Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Audio/Video Podcasting. Dan has produced and consulted for companies like Speedo, Grey Advertising, and Big Brothers/Sisters under his company Jacket Media, since 2005. He is a proud member of the Academy of Podcasters, and is a podcast instructor at UCLA university.
Elsie Escobar is a die hard podcast junkie who lives and breathes podcasting, and has worked in the medium for over ten years. She, like many of us, started as someone who barely knew what a digital recorder was, and has since grown into the co-host of the popular She Podcasts and The Feed: The Official Libsyn podcast. Elsie is currently the Community Manager at Libsyn, and is the founder of Podcasting School for Women.
Luria Petrucci (aka Cali Lewis) is a pioneer in the podcasting and live streaming world, known for her shows GeekBeat.TV and GeekBrief.TV, among others. Since 2005, she’s grown an audience of 2 million social followers, and has produced and hosted video & live streams for her own communities, Samsung, Panasonic, AT&T, OnStar, DISH Network, Verizon, FiOS, Bausch + Lomb, BBC Click, and more. You can find the majority of her work now on Geeks Life.
Rob Greenlee is the Head of Podcast Content at Spreaker and Adore Podcast Network. Rob was formerly with PodcastOne as EVP/CTO, and for six years was the Business Manager and Content Manager for podcasts at Microsoft Zune, Xbox and Windows Phone. Rob currently hosts the Spreaker Live Show and co-hosts the New Media Show. He is also the former lead host of WebTalk World Radio Show; recognized as the first nationally syndicated radio program in the world to begin podcasting, on September 15th, 2004.