The jury awarded 11 prizes and distinctions in 7 categories. 280 podcasts were submitted to the competition and evaluated by a 14-person jury. This year's prize pool was PLN 85,000.

The Podcast of the Year is the first nationwide competition aimed at promoting the quality, originality and culture of conveying various sound forms in digital media. The competition commemorates the editor Janusz Majka, associated for almost 40 years with the Polish Radio in Rzeszów, who died in February 2021 of COVID-19.

The competition promotes high journalistic standards and successful debuts in the Internet media. That is why the Jury decided to award 3 prizes in the Debutants and Passionates category and in the Professionals category. Moreover, 4 awards and one Special Competition Prize were awarded.

At the Final Gala of the first edition of the Competition in Rzeszów, the competition prizes were awarded to:

In the Debutants and Enthusiasts category:

By the decision of the jury, the first prize was awarded to Aneta Chmielińska for the podcast Dzikoprzygody.

“For intimacy, sensitivity and the ability to instill a passion for nature in listeners of all ages. For mastering the monologue as the most difficult form to lead in a podcast and at the same time maintaining the ability to dialogue with the Listener.”

The second prize in this category went to Joanna Żelazińska for the podcast Przed obrazem. “For bringing us closer to art and a unique story about creating art, for the ability to take us to places that we may never visit.”

The third prize went to Marcin Nieroda and Andrzej Padniewski for the podcast Przyjaciele Kota Wrocka. “For using the podcast to launch local activism and caring for civic awareness, talking about the city and the people who create it, in a slightly comedic formula, clashing play and mockery with a counteroffensive ‘official dignity’.”

In the Professionals category:

The first prize was awarded to Anna Dudzińska for reportage in the podcast Raport o stanie świata. “For creating a podcast in the podcast - complete in terms of content and form, for the perfect, original formula of the sound form and perfectly conducted journalistic narration in reportages and an above-average idea: execution, technical implementation.”

The second prize went to Michał Matus, author of the podcast Nurt Równoległy. “For fighting fake news and exposing the complicated mechanisms of disinformation and for an attractive and innovative form of the podcast - journalistic investigation in episodes.”

The third prize for Professionals was received by Agnieszka Pospiszyl and Adam Liszka for the My z covidowego podcast. “For the ability to open and listen to people working under enormous pressure; for an excellent example of how to document, guide the subject and the character and for the value of a direct relationship, as an expression of gratitude and appreciation for the entire genuinely engaged medical community.”

In both categories, the winners of the first prizes received checks of PLN 20,000, the winners of the second prizes received PLN 10,000 each, and the third prizes PLN 5,000.

Together with the Partners of the Competition, the Jury also awarded the following distinctions:

Radio 357 Distinction - in the Magnetizing Personality category for Konrad Szymański for the podcast Historie z Boiska. “For the voice you want to listen to, the ability to interest each recipient, a broad and colorful topic, for a very interesting, detailed and reliable research, full of “tastes” for the recipient of each episode and for the magnetizing personality, without which there is no chance for success in the media.”

Distinction from Audioteka - in the Well-Told Story category for Michał Kukawski for Odpowiednik. “For very careful selection of ‘other’ stories and telling them ‘differently’, for
a different perspective of observing reality, proprietary narration enabling ‘long journeys’ during the stay ‘in here and now’, for the universal nature of the story of each episode, very good editing, sound and exemplary workmanship, which made them well-told stories.”

The Patronite.pl award was given to Bartosz Pawłowski, Małgorzata Kilian, Wioletta Myszkowska, and Marcel Kiełtyka as the authors of the podcast Demagog. “For efficiently building a community around an important topic and a great potential for good podcast development, for taking up a necessary, important topic, building critical thinking competences and offering an analytical perspective in an accessible way for a steadily growing community.”

All the Awards were accompanied by a Competition statuette and a check for PLN 5,000.

The competition was also aimed at appreciating brands actively engaging in podcasts. That is why the Jury decided to award an honorary distinction in the 'Principal' category - for the Teatr Ateneum, for the podcast ‘Ateneum, słucham’. “For love of the theater beautifully dressed in words and for skilful presentation of culture, combined with non-intrusive building of brand credibility in the podcast.”

Moreover, the Jury awarded a special honorary award to Dariusz Rosiak, the author of the podcast Raport o stanie świata - for setting the standards of the genre and the market. “For building
a podcast as a reliable source of information, and for encouraging the listener to look for reliable, wise and beautiful areas of the Internet and digital media.”

The jury decided not to award two statutory prizes of the competition '”Child in the world of new technologies“ and “High school students” in this edition.

Several hundred hours of podcasts were heard by a 14-person jury composed of: Katarzyna Błaszczyk radio reporter and co-founder of the Torba Reportera and Podcastera initiative, Łukasz Błąd, a radio journalist and lecturer at WSIiZ in Rzeszów, Natalia Borawska, creative director and screenwriter, Aleksandra Dąbrowska - Head of Production Audioteka, Justyna Dżbik - Kluge, radio and television journalist, Michał Dobrzański, originator of the cyclical report Słuchacz podcastów w Polsce, carried out by Tandem Media, Karolina Hytrek - Prosiecka, former TVN journalist, information management expert, Szymon Jadczak journalist wp.pl, representative of the media think-tank Instytut Zamenhoffa, Marcin Łukawski, journalist of Radio 357 and lecturer at Collegium Civitas, Marcin Myszka, author of the most popular podcast in 2020, Kryminatorium, Marcin Skonieczny, president of Patronite.pl, Karol Stryja, owner of The Podcast Makers studio, Dionisios Sturis - reporter and writer, and Bożena Targosz presenter, lecturer and media trainer.

The organizers of the Competition, Sara Piskor and Tomasz Majka, announced the establishment of the Janusz Majka Foundation. The statutory goal of the Foundation will be to support podcasters in the field of storytelling, marketing, building internet channels and communication with the recipient, research, monetization, technical quality, diction, and production support. The Foundation will not only organize subsequent editions of the Podcast of the Year Competition, but also support the implementation, professionalisation and variety of forms of podcast cooperation with brands, as well as care for the culture of speech and skillful storytelling with sound.

“We have shown that Rzeszów, the city of innovation, the hometown of Janusz Majka, can become the host of a modern and representative Competition, which has already accumulated a huge creative potential of 280 Artists. In the near future, we plan to further develop a mentoring program for podcasters.” - emphasized Tomasz Majka.

“Jury members have already agreed to share their time and experience. We plan to launch the Podcasters Program among High School Students, the Podcasters Program dealing with Eastern Europe and work on the development of the ‘Child in the world of new technologies’ category together with Sebastian Kulczyk's Incredible Inspiration platform.” - Sara Piskor said.

During the gala at the Millenium Hall at the Hilton Garden Inn Rzeszów, chaired by Jarosław Kuźniar, apart from the awarding of awards and distinctions, there was also a debate with patrons and practitioners of internet media and podcasts.

The Contest's Strategic Partner is Sebastian Kulczyk's Incredible Inspirations platform. The patrons of the Competition are: Google Poland, the City of Rzeszów, Audioteka, Tandem Media, Lancerto, Best Construction. Fortum and Marma Polskie Folie.

The competition partners are: Radio 357, Patronite.pl, Instytut Zamenhoffa, Kuźniar Media & Voice House, Torba Reportera i Podcastera, Najlepsze Polskie Podcasty, Fundacja Pomocy Szkole im. ks. St. Konarskiego in Rzeszów, PR agency Molecule Group, Kancelaria Prawna BWW, Millenium Hall and Hilton Garden Inn in Rzeszów.

The honorary patronage over the competition was taken by all the largest universities in Podkarpacie, with which Janusz Majka cooperated: Rzeszów University of Technology, University of Rzeszów, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów, WSPiA Rzeszów University.

All information about the Competition is available at https://podcastroku.pl/ and in social media.

Contact: kontakt@podcastroku.pl