01
Submit your podcast
Your participation begins as soon as you submit your own podcast. Available peer-review assignments appear immediately, and your queue continues to fill as more eligible creators join the season.
Peer review
A fair award starts with careful listening.
The Open Podcast Awards are evaluated by participating creators. The process is designed to be clear, manageable, and useful: listen to a few peers, offer thoughtful feedback, and receive the same care in return.
The principle
Feedback is as valuable as recognition.
Instead of asking a small, closed panel to decide everything, Open Podcast Awards brings the people closest to the craft into the process: podcast creators themselves. Each participant contributes a small amount of careful listening, which makes independent feedback possible for everyone.
You do not need to be a professional critic. A useful review is simply attentive, honest, respectful, and specific enough that another creator can learn from it.
The review process
From assignment to feedback, step by step.
02
Find your review queue
Your Review your peers page is your working list. Each assignment shows the podcast, its artwork, category, and current status—so you can see what is still open, in progress, or already submitted.
03
Listen before you respond
Open an assignment to read the podcast description and listen using the built-in RSS player. Choose an episode that gives you a fair sense of the show, and take enough time to form a genuine impression.
04
Write a useful review
Rate content and value, listener experience, and production from 0 to 10. Then identify one specific strength and one valuable next improvement so the creator receives context rather than unexplained numbers.
05
Save a draft or submit
You can save a draft and return before the peer-review deadline. Once submitted, a review is locked. This keeps the outcome stable and makes sure every creator receives the same final version of your feedback.
06
Unlock your own feedback
While you are reviewing other shows, independent participants are reviewing yours. Your received feedback becomes visible once you have completed your own assigned reviews—a simple give-before-you-receive rule that keeps participation reciprocal.
How to review well
Be the reviewer you would want to have.
Start with the intended listener
Consider what the show is trying to offer: information, entertainment, a story, a conversation, or a new point of view. Judge it against that intention, not against a completely different format.
Be specific about strengths
Point to the details that worked for you—an engaging host, a clear story, a strong question, useful insight, good pacing, or an effective production choice.
Make improvement actionable
Frame suggestions as practical opportunities. Explain what felt unclear, uneven, slow, or underdeveloped and, where possible, suggest a direction the creator could try.
Rate with care
Use the shared 0–10 scale for all three criteria. The overall score is their equal average, while your written comments explain the reasoning behind it.
Fairness built in
A process everyone can trust.
01
No self-review
The assignment system never gives you your own podcast.
02
Anonymous feedback
Creators see the substance of completed reviews, not the identity of the reviewer.
03
Independent perspectives
More than one participant can review a podcast, giving the creator a broader view than a single opinion.
04
A shared commitment
Everyone completes reviews before opening the feedback they have received.
Independent · Transparent · Worldwide