The spirit of Dunder Mifflin was alive and well at the third annual iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, held Thursday night in a virtual online awards show.
“Office Ladies,” a podcast hosted by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey about NBC’s “The Office,” took home the big prize at the 2021 awards, winning the fan-voted Podcast of the Year. “The Office” left the airwaves nearly eight years ago, but the hugely popular franchise endures: It scored as the most-streamed TV show of 2020 on Netflix, and as of Jan. 1 moved over to NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
The “Office Ladies” podcast, produced by Earwolf (a division of Stitcher, now part of SiriusXM) also won the award for best ad-read podcast. Since launching in October 2019, Fischer and Kinsey have recorded 61 episodes (and counting). The podcast beat out the other nine nominees in the Podcast of the Year category: “Bunga Bunga,” “Dolly Parton’s America,” “Nice White Parents,” “Reply All,” “Stuff You Should Know,” “The Breakfast Club,” “The Daily,” “The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos” and “Wind of Change.”
Other winners at the iHeartMedia Podcast Awards included Conan O’Brien, who took home the award for best overall host – male, telling viewers that what separates his podcast from others is his “lack of professionalism.” Nicole Byer, host of “Why Won’t You Date Me,” accepted the overall host – female award from Laverne Cox (whose first podcast is set to debut in February).
Hilary Clinton presented the Icon Audible Pioneer Award to Serial Productions’ Peter McDonnell, Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, and Gwen Stefani bestowing the first Seneca Women Podcast Award in partnership with P&G to spoken-word poet Amena Brown of “HER With Amena Brown.”
In addition, Questlove presented Baratunde Thurston with the Icon Social Impact Award, podcast studio QCode won the Icon Innovator Award, presented by Tenderfoot TV co-founders Donald Albright and Payne Lindsey.
Dan Patrick presented the winner of the Next Great Podcast award, a monthslong competition from iHeartRadio in partnership with content-creation platform Tongal, to Siena Jeakle and Lianna Holston of “Frankly, My Dear,” a new movie review podcast from the pair of friends who “don’t really like movies.”
Will Ferrell, featured on iHeartRadio’s “The Ron Burgundy Podcast,” kicked off the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards in true Ron Burgundy form — making up his own stats about both the awards show and podcasts. The show also featured skits from the ladies of Obama’s Other Daughters — Maame-Yaa Aforo, Ashley Holston, Shakira Ja’nai Paye and Yazmin Monet Watkins — who host the podcast “You Down?”, as well as Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, hosts of “Las Culturistas.”
Other nominees, presenters and special guests included Aaron Mahnke, Adam Devine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, Charlamagne Tha God, Holly Frey, Jill Scott, Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, Kyle Newacheck, Nikki Glaser and Roy Wood Jr.
The virtual awards event was recorded from multiple locations and exclusively video streamed on iHeartRadio’s YouTube and Facebook pages and broadcast across iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on the iHeartRadio App.
Here’s the full list 2021 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards winners:
Podcast of the Year: “Office Ladies” (Stitcher’s Earwolf, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey)
Icon Award – Innovator Award: QCode
Icon Award – Audible Audio Pioneer Award: Serial Productions (Sarah Koenig, Julie Snyder and Peter McDonnell)
Icon Award – Social Impact Award: Baratunde Thurston
Crime Podcast: “Crime Junkie” (AudioChuck)
Pop Culture Podcast: “Pop Culture Happy Hour” (NPR)
Music Podcast: “Dolly Parton’s America” (WNYC & OSM Audio)
News Podcast: “Pod Save America” (Crooked Media)
Sports Podcast: “All The Smoke” (The Black Effect Podcast Network)
Comedy Podcast: “The Read” (Loud Speakers Network)
Political Podcast: “NPR Politics” (NPR)
Branded Podcast: “Humans Growing Stuff” (ScottsMiracle-Gro)
Kids & Family Podcast: “Wow In The World” (NPR)
Food Podcast: “Home Cooking” (Samin Nosrat / Hrishikesh Hirway)
Fiction Podcast: “Blood Ties” (Wondery)
Beauty & Fashion Podcast: “Articles of Interest” (Avery Trufelman / 99% Invisible)
Overall Host – Female: Nicole Byer (“Why Don’t You Date Me?”)
Overall Host – Male: Conan O’Brien (“Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend”)
Business & Finance Podcast: “Pivot” (NY Mag)
Green Podcast: “How To Save a Planet” (Spotify’s Gimlet)
Travel Podcast: “Travel With Rick Steves” (independet)
Spirituality & Religion Podcast: “Elevation With Steven Furtick” (independent)
Advice/Inspirational Podcast: “Unlocking Us With Brene Brown” (Spotify’s Parcast)
TV & Film Podcast: “You Must Remember This?” (Karina Longworth)
Spanish-Language Podcast: “Leyendas Legendarias” (Sonoro/All Things Comedy)
Ad-Read Podcast: “Office Ladies” (Earwolf)
Science Podcast: “Radiolab” (WNYC Studios)
Technology Podcast: “Rabbit Hole” (The New York Times)
Wellness & Fitness Podcast: “Therapy For Black Girls” (Joy Harden Bradford/iHeartRadio)
History Podcast: “Revisionist History” (Pushkin Industries)
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