Welcome to the 2023 Audio Verse Awards nomination form!

Please remember to check the list of nominees before making your nominations, as nominating a production already on the list does not increase its chances of winning or advance it any further from that point.

You will receive an email confirming we received your submission. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a holler.

Nominations are open through Friday, September 30th at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. Thanks, and good luck to everyone!

(The automation for this to happen is more involved than in previous years. We may soft-open the form to test it, if eagle-eyed participants notice that, we will honor complete nominations.)


Form Transcript

Welcome Screen

Hello, Audio Fiction Lover!
Welcome to the 2023 Audio Verse Awards Nomination form!

Before you begin a nomination, please have your full cast and crew details on hand!

This form will also allow you to sponsor a nomination!

Audio Verse Awards Eligibility Criteria

Nominations take into account all episodes of the production that were released between October 1st, 2022, and September 30, 2023.

To be eligible, productions must:

1) Be fictional (No news/current events, conversational interviews, behind-the-scenes)

2) Be exclusively in audio format (Not derivative of another format, for instance, an audiobook or the audio-only element of a video. )

3) Be discoverable via RSS feed or an open platform like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.

4) Have performance elements (story acted out, not just read)

5) Include elements that contribute to a sonically varied, dynamic production (sound design and effects, music, foley, etc.)

6) All production elements must be in the public domain or have the rights secured for presentation via the rights holder’s direct license, Creative Commons, or other agreement/policy.

The Audio Verse Awards charge a nomination fee of 25.00 US Dollars. If this is a burden, there is an open sponsorship process so that smaller productions will still find themselves able to participate. Please submit your nominations anyway.

This form allows you to nominate your production, request sponsorship, or sponsor a production.

Nominee Showcase

Please do this before nominating your Production

If you’re nominating your production, you may submit an episode or a sample of the production, to be featured in our Nominee Showcase. The showcase is a way for listeners to familiarize themselves with your production so they can make informed decisions before voting. It’s also a great way to get your production out to new listeners who might become future subscribers and fans!

Participation in the showcase is not a requirement for eligibility. However, starting this year, we will offer juried ratings, in addition to the public vote, and the Nominee Showcase is primarily what we will be judging.

To submit to the nominee showcase please record an introduction of three minutes or less that contains:
– Your name
– Your position on the show
– A short description of the show
– The episode name and number (if applicable)
– Any information the audience needs before listening to optimize their experience

Example: “This is Adam, creator of Ill Omens and Bad Tidings, which is a micro-horror/dark comedy anthology where all stories are the length of a single tweet. This is episode one, titled “Mask,” which is about a cursed mask that shows the wearer the last thing they’ll ever see…with unfortunate results. It’s a real challenge to tell a story with such constraints, but it’s also a lot of fun to see how dialogue, music, and sound effects can work together to accomplish that goal. I hope you enjoy the show. Thank you for listening.”

If your production is recorded in a language other than English, you are welcome to record separate intros in your language and in English.

1. First, let’s learn more about you…

We hope you’re a producer here to nominate their show, but you don’t have to be. You’ll need a lot of information if you aren’t.

1a. What’s your name?

1b. What’s your email?

1c. What are you here to do?

A I am here to fill out a nomination for a show.

This will take you to 1d

B I am here to sponsor another show by paying their entry fee.

This will take you to 6

1d. Were you actively involved in the production?

We love nominations either way!

A Yes

This will take you to 1e

B No

Skips 1e

1e. What is your primary role on the show?

2 Production Details

Productions are nominated for all episodes that were released between October 1st, 2022, and September 30, 2023.

2a. What’s the name of your Production?

2b. Please enter a short description of the production’s premise.

You are limited to 280 characters.

2c. How would you voluntarily rate your production?

We put these tags at the beginning of showcases so listeners have an idea of what they are getting into. We also appreciate any content or trigger warnings you may have.

A G – General Audience, suitable for all ages.
B PG – Parental Guidance suggested.
C PG-13 – Parental Guidance suggested, but not for children.
D R – For Rocking. Not suitable for those under 17.
E NC-17 – Not unless you’re 17 (or up to 21 in some places).

2d. Are there any particular trigger warnings we should alert people ahead of time about?

For instance, if the production contains sexual references, violence, or discrimination.

2e. Did the show release its first episode on or after October 1st, 2022, making it a new production?

Productions released on or after this date are entered into the ‘new productions’ categories.

A Yes
B No

2f.Are all elements of your show in the public domain OR have you secured official permission from rights holders via direct license, Creative Commons, or other agreement to use existing intellectual property?

This is to avoid violating fan content policies or infringing on rights holders’ intellectual property (IP). For example, some RPGs have rules against streaming, recording, or creating derivative content based on existing IPs. Some IP (e.g., Star Wars, Star Trek) have very specific rules on how fan content is produced and distributed. Others (e.g., Disney) urge reporting infringement on their IP. The Genesys System used by Fantasy Flight Games does not allow streaming.

We don’t want to raise the profile of well-meaning, albeit unofficial, fan productions and risk them being shut down.

We’re an international award, and fair use doesn’t exist internationally, despite what your home country’s laws may be. Therefore, we will not arbitrate whether a production meets the criteria for fair use.

As always, we urge you to research and know whether your production fits in the public domain or complies with content policies and/or rules about a given IP. If you submit a nomination knowing it violates our eligibility rules, we will consider any nomination fees for that production as a donation of our time. If your production was sponsored, we will donate your sponsorship at the sponsor’s request or at random after the nomination ends.

A Yes
B No

2g. Please upload the cover art the production used between the period of October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023

This will be used on our web pages and in the showcase, as well as the art category.

2h. Do you have a Trailer for the show?

Please drop it here! (Note: Your nominee showcase comes later!) Choose file or Drag here Size Limit 10MB

2i. What is the Production’s email address?

What email address should we use to contact the Production’s Producers should we have further questions?

2j.What is the Production website?

Please do not link to a podcast host. Please provide a link a website where people can find more details about the production (cast, production team, episodes etc)

2k. Does your Production have a Tumblr or Instagram?

If your production has a Tumblr page or Instagram account please share the links here

2l. Are you submitting the production to our nominee showcase?

Our Nominee Showcase is our podcast of Nominee-provided episodes or samples of their production, submitted by you!

A Yes, and I’m ready to do so.

This will take you to 3

B No, but I’d like to submit one later, can you reach out to us over email?

This will take you to 4

C No, thank you. We’re not interested in the showcase

This will take you to 4

3 Nominee Showcase Submission

We will mix the intro and episode clips for you and upload them to our podcast feed for distribution.

As soon as we receive your nominee showcase response, we will try to release the showcase as soon as we finish making the episode. We want to release daily and as soon as we receive responses.

Starting this year, we are offering juried ratings in addition to our public awards, and the Nominee Showcase is primarily what we will be judging.

3a First, please record an introduction of three minutes or less that contains:

  • Your name
  • Your position on the show
  • A short description of the show
  • The episode name and number (if applicable)
  • Any information the audience needs before listening to optimize their experience

If your show is recorded in a language other than English, you’re welcome to record separate intros in your native language and in English.

If the file is too large to attach, we ask you to create a Google Drive folder with your intro and episode within it, shared with anyone with the link on the next page

3b. Please send us the typed intro so we can put it in the show notes for your showcase episode.This question is required.

3c. Please link us to where we can download a full episode or, if you prefer, a sample of your production, which you feel best showcases what your show is about, and released between October 1st, 2022, and September 31st, 2023. Due to size limitations, we need that file to be less than 250 MB!

Feel free to create a Google Drive folder with both your intro and episode within it, shared with anyone with the link.

Please do not send Spotify links; we cannot download the actual file of the episode from Spotify

3d. Do you have a link to the transcript of the content you want to showcase?

Thank you for helping make our nominee showcase accessible for members of our community with disabilities. We will make sure it is in the show notes of your episode.

4 Crew and Cast Details

It’s important to note that nominations are for entire productions, not individual team members, although individual recognition comes later during finalist and winner announcements.

4a. Is your production scripted or improvised?

We have distinct categories for each.

A Scripted (i.e., where the story is written and then brought to life)

This will take you to 4f

B Improvised (i.e., where the story is made up in the moment)

This will take you to 4m after 4e.

4b. If your show is uses a roleplaying game to determine the outcomes of an action, what gaming system are you using?

Not all gameplay systems give players the right to share and distribute their content. We are aware of the legalities of these systems.

A My show isn’t based on a RPG
B Dungeons & Dragons
C Fate and Fudge
D OpenD6
E Powered by the Apocalypse
F I have no idea.
G Other

4c. Please list the name of the Player Director:

Player Director: The person organizing and moderating a group of players in an improvised production. This is also known as the Dungeon or Game Master.

All the world’s a stage… And one in their time plays many parts.

4d. Please list the names of the Players

Players react and respond to scenes and situations as their characters would. What are the actual names (not character names) of the recurring players in the production?

A second question will be for guest players who only appear in one episode during the eligibility period.

Please list the names of the recurring players in the production using the following format, with separate lines for each player.

Player Name
Player Name
Player Name

4e. Please list the names of the Guest Players

Guest Players: Only appear in one episode but leave a mark on the show

Please give us all guest players in your show during the eligibility period (October 1, 2022-September 30, 2023) using the following format, with separate lines for each player.

Guest Player Name
Guest Player Name
Guest Player Name

4f. Please list the names of the Performer(s)

Performers bring words to life with their voices. What are the actual names (not character names) of the recurring performers in the production?

A second question will be for performers who appear only in one episode during the eligibility period. If you are an anthology or have only guest roles, nominate them on the next page.

Please list the names of the recurring performers in the production using the following format, with separate lines for each performer. Please include your narrator if you use one.

Performer Name
Performer Name
Performer Name

4g. Please list the names of the Guest Performers

Guest Performers: Only appear in one episode, but leave a mark on the show

Please give us all performers using the following format for us, with separate lines for each performer, or leave it blank if you do not have any to nominate.

Guest Performer Name
Guest Performer Name
Guest Performer Name

4h. Is one of those performers your Narrator?

We also have an additional, but not separate, category to recognize them:
The Richard Nadolny Award for Narrating Excellence

A Yes

This will take you through 4i

B No

This will skip the next section.

4i Please list the name of the Narrator

This is for consideration for the Richard Nadolny Award for Narrating Excellence, which will be awarded by a jury consisting of AVA staff and Oz9 cast/crew.

This is why we ask that you give your narrator both here and on the performer page previously.

Narrator Name

4j. Does your production have a Vocal Director?

Vocal Directors encourage and temper performers as they rehearse and record, guiding things for cohesion.

A Yes

This will take you through 4k

B No

This will skip the next section.

4k. Please list the name of the Vocal Director

Vocal Director: The person guiding and advising the work of a performer as they record.

Please give us the names of all Vocal Directors, with separate lines for each, who worked on your production during the eligibility period.

4l. Please list the name of the Writer(s)

Writers craft the stories and words brought to life by others.

Please give us the names of all Writers, with separate lines for each, who worked on your production during the eligibility period.

4m. Please list the name of the Sound Designer(s)

Sound Design: Movements and motions of characters and the ambiance that immerses us.

Please give us the names of all Sound Designers, with separate lines for each, who worked on your production during the eligibility period.

4n. Please list the name of the Cover artist

Please give us the names of who is responsible for the art.

4o. Please list the name of the Musical Directors

The person responsible for the production’s soundtrack evokes emotion and influences our perception of the scene.

Please give us the names of all Musical Directors, with separate lines for each, who worked on your production during the eligibility period.

4p. Is there any original music you wish to nominate specifically?

Please give us each song using the following format, with separate lines for each song, or leave it blank if you do not have a song to nominate.

[Link to where anyone can listen to the music on its own, not the production it is in] + [Song Name] by [Artist]

For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ + Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk2vYua459g + Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy

m. Is the show in a position to afford the entry free or do you need a sponsor?

If you select that you need a sponsor, it will submit your show to our list of nominees in need of a sponsor. Anyone will be able to pay your fee.

A We’re able to afford the fee

This will take you to 7.

B We need a sponsor for our show

This will allow you to submit the form.

5 What is the name of the show you are sponsoring?

Please give the name listed on our list of nominees needing a sponsor. If they’re not there, the show hasn’t submitted a nomination to us.

That doesn’t stop you from sponsoring an unnominated show anyway – we contact the production to let them know their fee is paid when that happens.

6 Welcome to the Nomination entry fee payment page. The fee to nominate a production for the Audio Verse Awards is $25.00 USD.

Thank you for supporting the awards.

Your credit card will be charged: $25.00

We never store your card number or CVC number

End Screen. Thank you so much! You should have a confirmation in your inbox.

Good luck to everyone in the awards!