Radio Ambulante Studios wins the Ondas World Podcast Awards
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This Thursday, March 2nd, the jury of the Ondas World Podcast Awards announced the winners of this prize that recognizes the best in the industry in Spanish. Radio Ambulante Studios received the Award for Podcast Trajectory and Consolidation in Spain and Latin America.
“For becoming an example in journalism, renewing the style and formula and creating a genuine school of storytelling,” the jury stated in their decision about the award. “For having built a team full of talent and learning that is at the forefront of the genre beyond the language, sustaining relationships with media outlets such as NPR or VICE and creating solid projects like El Hilo,” they added.
This award comes 11 years after the first episode was published, and after creating two of the most successful audio projects in the Americas. Radio Ambulante, the narrative podcast distributed by NPR and hosted by Daniel Alarcón has, under the editorial direction of Camila Segura, created a sonic portrait of Latin America. Meanwhile, El Hilo is a podcast led by experienced journalists Silvia Viñas and Eliezer Budasoff that offers in-depth analysis of one critical Latin American news story each week.
“Nine years ago, we won the biggest award for innovation in Spanish-language journalism and today we won the most important recognition for podcasts in Spanish for our trajectory. I feel a lot of pride for the work we have done, which is validated with over 400 episodes and 47 million total downloads,” says Carolina Guerrero, CEO, and co-founder of the organization.
Executive Producer Daniel Alarcón says that this is a recognition of the efforts of over 35 professionals from 15 different countries whose commitment and talent is in evidence every single day: “Since we launched, our idea was to create an audio document of what Latin America is, with all its complexity, charm, drama, and humor. We are still excited about that goal because there is not a day that we do not learn something new working at Radio Ambulante Studios.”
That ability to inspire new audio content creators throughout the region was also one of the elements highlighted by the jury in their decision: “(They are) a constant inspiration for the documentary genre, uniquely squeezing the possibilities of digital audio in storytelling and connecting stories with a global community.”
In this regard, Guerrero explained that the success of the organization has also been in forming alliances with major media outlets such as NPR (the United States Public Radio) and VICE News, as well as collaborating with more than 200 local journalists and media outlets in the region and building a community with their audiences. “Every week, listeners from all over the world come together to discuss our content in Listening Clubs; we have developed an app for Spanish students and teachers that allows us to overcome the language barrier, and have created educational material for all people who want to venture into podcasting. We have done everything from scratch, creating an independent and non-profit media organization that has found a unique and innovative business model”, she added.
