Join The Cast

Danielle Olavario’s Threads, is the Join The Cast 2024 winner.

Thank you to everyone who voted and listened to all the finalists. We were amazed by the reaction. We’re looking forward to getting started on the production of season one of Threads soon.

Our runners up were:

Second Place: The Junior B Things Podcast by James McDowell

Third Place: FREAKS by Sophie Hearne]

Congratulations to all our other pilots and entrants to the competition.

HeAR THE FULL PILOTS

Presented by:

and

Listen to the Pilots

How it works

Rating the trailers

Scroll down to the voting section and play each of the trailers. Give each show a star rating.

Think about what show you’d like to hear become a full fledged season and fully explore the ideas you hear in the pilot.

Want to hear the full pilots?

Add the Join The Cast feed to your podcast app to hear the full length pilots and to keep up to date when the winner is announced!

Voting is now closed for Join The Cast 2024

The Prizes

First Prize
€50,000 in production and marketing!
+ Full podcast production at The Podcast Studios.
+ A marketing campaign to launch the show.
+ Guidance from our amazing team.
+ The opportunity to join HeadStuff Podcast’s network for the show’s 2nd season.

Second Prize
Deluxe Podcaster Package:
1 hour consultation with our experts
3 hours recording in our premium studio
3 hours editing
Music supplied for trailer and episode

+ Hosting service for a year.

Third Prize
Podcaster Started Package:
30 min consultation with our experts
1 hour recording in the studio
1 hour editing

Meet our judges

Tony Cantwell

Host – Tony Cantwell’s Hit Show

Tony is a podcaster and has over 5 million views online through his Ploon, MA’s Mate, Dublin Frenchman and Irish Homer Simpson sketches as well as hundreds more created on his daily Instagram stories.

Vanessa Ogbonna

Host – The Nesser Show

Vanessa Ogbonna/Nesser is an Irish-Nigerian presenter and content creator. Best known as the host of “The Nesser Show,” a captivating YouTube interview series that celebrates and honours individuals who are making a positive impact in their local communities. Nesser’s platform is a space where people feel appreciated.

Naomi O’Leary

Host – The Irish Passport

Naomi O’Leary hosts the award-winning Irish Passport podcast, which digs into Irish current affairs together with the history needed to understand it all. She is based on the continent as the Irish Times’ Europe Correspondent, and previously reported around Europe as a correspondent for Politico, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

Kenny Olaniyi

Host – The Black & Irish Podcast

My name is Kenny Olaniyi. I currently work with the Black & Irish Podcast having previously hosted the Pints of Malt Podcast that was on the Headstuff Network. I’m also part of Slight Motif which is a multimedia platform which documents and promotes entertainment and creativity. I really enjoy hosting, producing and listening to podcasts and I’m excited to see what comes up in the competition!

Nicola Bardon

Host – Tis Yourself

Nicola hosts the Tis Yourself podcast, which won Best New Podcast at the first ever Irish Podcast Awards. She loves chatting to celebs in a friendship format, finding out stuff you may not know about them. She loves finding new and indie podcasts without a huge following.

Gearóid Farrelly

Host – Agony Rants

Gearóid is one of Ireland’s top comedians. He is the co-host of HeadStuff podcast Agony Rants with Niamh Kavanagh as well hosting his own show, a HeadStuff Podcasts classic, Fascinated with Gearóid Farrelly.

Emma Ozenbrook

Host – Real Life Ghost Stories

Emma is a full-time podcaster and content creator. She is the host of Real Life Ghost Stories, an award winning paranormal podcast with over 30 million downloads worldwide. Emma is an actor and theatre producer and is currently touring a show around the southeast of England.

Veda Lady

Host – Poz Vibes

Veda Lady is a cabaret performer and style icon who has been recording and releasing queer pop and rock music ever since the 1990s. She’s been active in the queer community since winning the legendary drag pageant, Alternative Miss Ireland in 1999. She’s a dj and host of the hit midweek shindig, Witchy Wednesday at The George Dublin, the coolest coven in town. She is also the creator and co host of Poz Vibe podcast, the greatest pozcast in the world by a mile.

Conor Reid

Host – Words To That Effect

Conor is a podcaster, producer and writer, and the Head of Podcasts at The Podcast Studios. As a published author, twice a judge for the Irish Podcast Award, at The Podcast Studios he helps podcasters to shape and tell great stories.

Any questions? Just email [email protected]

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