The Reference Guide to Australian Audio & Music Awards
A living map of Australia's audio awards landscape
I founded Recognized.fm with a mission to make the awards and recognition industry accessible, not just for mainstream awards like the Oscars and the Grammys, but for the whole award ecosystem. This guide applies that mission specifically to Australian audio: radio, podcasting, recorded music, sound design, and sonic branding.
That ecosystem, what Recognized calls the Recognition Economy™, the interconnected web of awards, rankings, badges, and public acknowledgment spanning entertainment, sport, business, and platforms, doesn’t stand still.
A good example: Australia’s oldest radio award collapsed in 2025 after 35 years and was replaced by two competing programs within months. Its oldest podcast award is currently paused, not dead, and a free independent alternative moved into that exact gap. We list all of it: what’s running, what’s paused, what’s discontinued .
We’ll keep this list updated as new awards launch and existing ones change, so check back regularly for the latest details.
Updated: July 2026.
#1. Australian Audio Awards
Award Focus: Radio, podcasting
Status: Operating (launched 2026)
Categories: 27, per the organizers’ event page. Some trade coverage breaks the total down as 13 radio categories plus 15 podcast categories (28 total); a new commercials category was added after the initial announcement, which may explain the gap.
Entry fee:
Radio: Large Markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth) $400 + GST per entry; Medium Markets $300 + GST; Small Markets $200 + GST; Newcomer categories free.
Podcast: Major-publisher entries $300 + GST; Independent-producer entries $200 + GST.
A 1.75% card-processing surcharge applies.
Commercial Radio & Audio members received a 20% discount code in 2026.
Trophy: Winning entries are collected and archived by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
Website: mumbrella.com.au/audioawards
When: The inaugural ceremony was held Thursday, May 28, 2026, at Carriageworks, Sydney, on the closing night of Mumbrella360.
Where: Sydney
Year founded: 2026
Presented by: Mumbrella, in partnership with Radioinfo and RadioToday, with AFTRS hosting the judging process and Acast as headline partner.
More Information: The awards were created in response to the collapse of the Australian Commercial Radio Awards (see #22), which Commercial Radio & Audio permanently cancelled in September 2025. The inaugural ceremony folded in radio entries from the ABC, SBS, commercial and community broadcasters alongside two podcast streams (Major and Independent), and absorbed RadioToday’s earlier podcast awards. At the first ceremony, the ABC was the biggest winner, taking 11 awards across radio and podcast categories.
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