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HeadStuff Podcasts Wins Best Network At The Irish Podcast Awards

We are proud to announce that HeadStuff Podcasts has been awarded The Best Network or Publisher award at the 2023 Irish Podcast Awards. 

This year the ceremony took place on the 21st of November at The Morrison Hotel in Dublin. The event celebrated the best in Irish podcasting from The Troubles Podcast to My Therapist Ghosted Me. The night was hosted by Zara King and Richard Chambers, co-hosts of The Group Chat podcast and Virgin Media News correspondents. 

We are thrilled to have won the best network at the IPAs. We have worked hard on HeadStuff Podcasts for a long time, so some solid recognition really feels good. We are in the middle of a revamp at the moment so this helps to give us confidence that we are on the right track. Fad Camp are very deserving winners in the Entertainment category too, we hope that will keep them on the trajectory they are already on. I know Gearoid Farrelly is fuming about being “highly commended” in the Comedy Category for his podcast Agony Rants, but he’ll get over it before the IPAs next year. – Alan Bennett

HeadStuff started way back in 2014 with HeadStuff.org and that eventually led to our first podcast The HeadStuff Podcast. With a studio in Dublin, we slowly developed a roster of some of the most interesting and creative podcasters in Ireland. 

Along with the big win, HeadStuff Podcasts was nominated across five categories including best comedy podcast, best entertainment podcast, best factual podcast, best wellbeing podcast, and best interview. Nominated podcasts include Basically.. With Stefanie Preissner, Agony Rants, Fad Camp, For Tech Sake, and Personality Bingo. The network celebrated a big win for Fad Camp, which was awarded Best Entertainment Podcast. Fad Camp is a comedy podcast about the ridiculousness of fad diets hosted by Grace Mulvey and Conor Dowling. The show recently hosted its first live show as part of The Dublin Fringe Festival as its listeners continue to grow. 

Agony Rants is also celebrating being highly commended in the Best Comedy category. The podcast is hosted by Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh and comedian Gearóid Farrelly, who offer advice and unconditional support to their devoted listeners.

With new Network Coordinator Hilary Barry, HeadStuff is taking on many new and exciting projects. The network’s most recent addition Young Hot Guys has been topping the Apple and Spotify charts since its launch in early November. The show is hosted by comedy stars Tony Cantwell, Killian Sundermann & Shane Daniel Byrne. HeadStuff’s Digital Director Matt Mahon has also recently launched a shiny new website for the network.

Don’t forget to check out these wonderful shows and their bonus content on HeadStuff+ at HeadStuff Podcasts.

Irish Podcast Awards

The Irish Podcast Award Nominations were announced this week and we were delighted to receive nods for shows on The HeadStuff Podcast Network and also shows produced for The Podcast Studios. The awards will take place in Liberty Hall.

Best Comedy Podcast

“Phoning It In”

Phoning It In is a hilarious improvised phone-in show. Each week, host Dave Coffey fields a collection of calls from a bunch of cranks, oddballs and weirdos. Dave is joined in studio by regular guests who will lend some ‘expert’ advice to the callers. This weekly podcast features some of Ireland’s best comedians and improvisers who have (literally) no idea what they’re getting themselves into – until their host introduces them on air.

Best Arts & Culture Podcast

“Words To That Effect”

Words To That Effect: Stories of the Fiction that Shapes Popular Culture. WTTE is a narrative storytelling show that explores the intriguing places where fiction, history, science, and popular culture intersect and inspire. From the Victorian past to utopian futures, dinosaurs to detectives, zombies to mummies, how does literature shape our understanding of popular culture.

Best Branded Content Podcast

“Mamia & Me”

Mamia & Me, hosted by Amy Huberman, is a place for parents to talk about the big crazy adventure that is parenthood. Amy will be chatting to mums and dads and special guests about everything from lockdown parenting to baby brain and surrogacy to home births. The whole parenting kit and kaboodle.

Best Fiction Podcast

The Bootsy Boys’ “Blackbird”

The Bootsy Boys got tired of waiting for Michael Flately to release his modern day masterpiece, action spy thriller, ‘Blackbird’, so they wrote their own version.

Starring Edwin Sammon, Finbar Doyle, Steve Bennett, Victor Bible, Fionn ‘Danger’ Cleary, Jordan Daniel, Brian Garvan, Niall Johnson, Kori Schagunn, Michael Sullivan, & Richard Zimmermann. Edited by Michael Sullivan and Directed by Mikey Fleming. The Bootsy Boys are a sketch group and part of MOB Theatre Dublin.

Best Health or Wellbeing Podcast

“Fad Camp”

Fad Camp is a comedy podcast about diet culture and the ridiculousness of fad diets. In each episode comedian Grace Mulvey and Conor Dowling tackle a new aspect of diet culture through funny and vulnerable personal experiences, interviews and much more.

Best Network or Publisher

“The HeadStuff Podcast Network”

Welcome Back Wiki!

The World According To Wikipedia has returned for another season. Hosted by Fionnuala Murphy and Rebecca O’Neill this show is a deep dive into the inner workings of Wikipedia and the people that keep it running.The show was launched on the Headstuff Podcast Network in November 2020 and is returning for season 3. Two bumper episodes have already dropped; including interviews with Carma Citrawati an Indonesian teacher, short story writer, and Wikimedian Newcomer of the Year 2021 and – The winner of the Wikimedian of the year 2021, “20th Year Honouree” award. Also there is a fascinating chat on the rules around the biographies of living people.You can find this brilliant show here and bonus content from past seasons is available to members of Headstuff+. Sign up to become a member and pledge support for The World According To Wikipedia.

100th Episode: Congratulations Phoning It In!

Phoning It In has reached the great podcasting mile-stone that is 100 episodes. They are celebrating with a special extended episode which features an all-star cast of 15 Phoning it in regulars Stephen Bradley, Ali Fox, Aoife Spratt, Tony Cantwell, Erin McGathy, Fionn Foley, Ronan Carey, Kelly Shatter, Laura O’Leary, Hannah Mamalis, Mark Cantan, Sophie Shanley, Kevin McGahern, Pearl O’Rourke and Luke Benson.

Phoning It In was launched in 2018 and is hosted by Dave Coffey who wrote and directed Dan & Becs for RTE.Phoning It In is an improvised phone-in show. Coffey acts as host while the callers are played by comedians, actors and improvisers who don’t know what they will be discussing until they are introduced on air.In 2020, Coffey produced and hosted a spin-off to Phoning It In called Talking It Out for RTÉ. The show is an improvised topical panel show. The regular guests are caricatures of typical panel show guests played by comedy performers Kevin McGahern, Pearl O’Rourke, Peter McGann and Sophie Shanley.

The show was released weekly as both a cartoon on the RTÉ Player and as a podcast with bonus content. To keep the show topical, Coffey and his team produced the cartoon version within 36 hours of recording using the live motion-capture animation software Adobe Character Animator.We’re looking forward to 100 more episodes. Big Congratulations to all of the Phoning In In crew!Phoning It In is released weekly, on Mondays and bonus material is available to subscribers to Headstuff+.

Spice Bags Win Irish Food Podcast 2021 Award

The Irish Food Writing Awards recently awarded The Headstuff Podcast Network’s very own Spice Bags Best Irish Food Podcast 2021. This is a novel award as it is the very first year for The Irish Food Writing Awards. We are extremely proud to be associated with this first in giving food podcasters, writers and journalists a chance to celebrate their achievements in the industry.

They said: We are so happy to win the Irish Food Writing Award for Best Food Podcast because it means that the stories we create about an increasingly diverse Ireland have struck a chord. Most importantly it showcases the dialogues that happen in multicultural teams.

“We are overwhelmed and so thankful for this great honour. We love creating this podcast, we feel that by connecting with people & communities through food storytelling, we are able to broadcast an inclusive voice of the modern Irish food landscape.

“We are nothing without the Headstuff Podcast Network family and so very grateful to them for their continued support and deeply honoured to have been nominated with two podcasts we admire GastroGays and That’s Bangin’. “Thanks to Nigel Barden who judges this category, to Safco Fine Foods who sponsored it, to Paul’s O’Connor & Suzanne Campbell for holding these important industry awards and for a fabulous night at Fallon & Byrne.”

You can listen to their most recent episode of both Spice Bags’ now!