Storyteller-led audio - Fiction · Non-Fiction

This award is for narrative storytelling across a body of work, told for the ear in fiction or non-fiction. It may be the work of one storyteller, a narrator, author, host, or a team of collective tellers. 

It's not for full-cast audio drama (that's Audio Drama 2.02), and it is not for reporting on an outside subject like an event or crime (that's Investigative and Documentary 2.03). Judges score the writing and the narrative voice that drives it, whether that voice is one person or a collective telling, sustained across the body of work.

Includes, but is not limited to: 

Books and Literature · Design and Visual Arts · Performing Arts

This award is for audio about the arts.

It's for work that brings art to life through criticism, profiles, or conversation, not for shows about music (that's Music 2.14). Judges score what the work adds to the art form and how good the criticism is.

Ensemble-cast, directed, full-production audio drama

This award is for a full-production audio drama, scripted, cast, directed, and built for the ear, with different actors playing different characters.

It's not for single-narrator fiction or a cast of one (that's Narrative 2.01). Judges score the script, direction, ensemble cast, and sound staging as equal parts of one work.

Includes, but is not limited to: 

Business · Entrepreneurship 

This award is for audio about business, economics, finance, and entrepreneurship. From leadership insights and market analysis to startup stories and personal finance guidance, this award values depth of insight alongside practical relevance. Whether serving seasoned executives or first-time investors, the best entries cut through complexity with clarity.

It's for work that interrogates the subject, not for shows that simply repeat corporate or founder talking points. Judges score the depth of insight and the honesty of the analysis.

Includes, but is not limited to: 

Comedy Fiction · Comedy Interview/Panel · Stand-Up Comedy

This award is for audio made to make people laugh, scripted comedy, comedic panels and chat, and stand-up.

Judges score the comedy itself: timing, writing, originality, and performance.

Includes, but is not limited to:

Society and Culture · Philosophy · Pop Culture · Relationships · Parenting

This award is for audio that explores society, identity, ideas, relationships, and the texture of human life with real insight.

It 's for work that goes deeper than its topic, not for shows that only cover a subject on the surface. Judges score the depth of thought and the honesty of the voice.

Includes, but is not limited to: 

Sports · Home and Garden · Games · Travel · Automotive · Screen and Stage

This award is for audio made to entertain and enrich everyday life, sports, home and garden, games, travel, motoring, and screen and stage.

It 's for shows that are a pleasure to listen to and build a real bond with their audience, not for work judged mainly on importance or research. Judges score listenability and connection.

Includes, but is not limited to: 

Fitness · Medicine · Nutrition · Mental Health · Wellness and Sexuality · Disability

This award covers all dimensions of health and wellbeing - from physical, mental, medical, and nutritional content to the lived experience of people with disability. 

It's for work that informs and supports listeners responsibly, not for unproven claims or unqualified advice. Judges hold it to the highest standards of accuracy and care.

Documentary · True Crime

This award is for long-form factual audio that investigates or documents a real subject, documentary or true crime built on original research.

It's not for personal storytelling about the maker's own life (that's Narrative Excellence 2.01) or for daily news coverage (that's News and Public Discourse 2.05). Judges score the reporting, the sourcing, and the public value the work creates.

Includes, but is not limited to: 

History · Education · Self-Development

This award is for audio whose main job is to teach or tell, history, practical skills, or personal growth. Whether exploring history through archival storytelling, delivering practical skills through instructional audio, or guiding listeners toward personal development, this award recognises work where education is the primary purpose. 

Judges score how well the audience ends up better informed.

Music

This award is for audio about music, music journalism, history, genre deep-dives, artist profiles, and album criticism.

It's for programs about music, not programs or shows solely presenting playlists. Judges score what the work adds to listeners' understanding and love of music.

News · Politics

This award is for audio journalism that keeps up with the daily and weekly news cycle, breaking news, current affairs, and political coverage.

It's not for single, deeply reported investigations (that's Investigative and Documentary 2.03). Judges score accuracy, public value, and clarity in ongoing coverage of public life.

Science · Technology · Engineering · Mathematics

This award is for audio about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, where the facts are right and the ideas come alive. It rewards work that makes complex material genuinely accessible to its audience and stands apart in its field, not hype or hand-waving. 

It's judged on accuracy, engagement, and the audience it reached.

Children's Audio 

This award is for audio made for children under 16, storytelling, learning, play, and entertainment. Recognises audio made for, about, or in service of young audiences and families. Children's audio must be age-appropriate, engaging, and safe. This award acknowledges the unique responsibility that comes with making audio for young listeners.

It's for work that is right for its age group and safe for young listeners, not for adult content aimed at grown-ups. Judges score fit, engagement, safety, and value for children and families.

Creators bringing heritage, language, and worldview to audio.

This award celebrates Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) creators whose lived experience and cultural understanding shape the work they make.

Female Creator

This award celebrates female creators across Australian audio, in every format and genre, from comedy to current affairs, narrative to news. It recognises the creator's role behind the work and what it contributes to audiences, storytelling, and the wider audio industry. 

It's judged on how the work adds to women's presence in Australian audio, not on profile or popularity alone.

First Nations Creators

First Nations peoples are Australia's first storytellers - audio sits within a continuing tradition of oral storytelling, song, language, and law that has been carried for tens of thousands of years. 

This award celebrates First Nations creators in Australian audio for the work they make today, in any form. From comedy to current affairs, science to sport, narrative to news, the award recognises the creators behind the work.

It's open to creators who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent, and are accepted as such by the community in which they live or have lived. Entrants provide confirmation of Aboriginality with their entry - for example, a Confirmation of Aboriginality issued by a registered Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community organisation, or written confirmation from a recognised community organisation or Elder. We recognise that First Nations identity sits within community, kinship, and cultural connection. Entrants who are unable to obtain documentation can contact the awards team in confidence to discuss an alternative pathway (see Operational pathways below). Evidence provided under either eligibility pathway is accessed only by the SONARR Director, stored confidentially, used solely to assess eligibility, and securely destroyed within 30 days of the eligibility decision.

The craft of holding a listener, solo or in a duo.

This award honours the art of hosting: holding attention, guiding a conversation, making hard content feel easy. Command leads the judging, because hosting is fundamentally about the grip a presenter keeps on the room, the authority and ease that make a listener stay.

If you are the reason people tune in, enter here. The winning host is the one a listener follows anywhere, who can carry a flat segment on presence alone and lift a good one into something memorable. Show us the hosting that held the room.

This award is for independent and freelance creators.

You can enter this category whether or not you own the IP, and whether the work was commissioned or self-funded.

LGBTQA+ Creators

This award celebrates the work of LGBTQA+ creators across all audio formats and genres. It recognises the creator's role behind the work and what it contributes to audiences, storytelling, and the wider audio industry. 

It’s open to creators who identify as LGBTQA+; self-identification is enough. Judges look at how the work adds to LGBTQA+ presence in Australian audio.

The publisher judged on the whole catalogue.

This award celebrates networks, publishers, and platforms, including audiobook publishers, judged on their whole catalogue, not on any single show.

It’s for work the network, publisher, or platform produced, commissioned, or owns, not for licensed or distributed third-party content. Judges score across the body of work, assessed in proportion to the catalogue's scale and resources.

Voice performance that commands the ear.

This award celebrates voice performance, acting, narration, advertising reads, and location-based audio guides.

It’s for the performer's own craft, not for the writing or production around them. 

The creative hand that shaped the work.

This award celebrates producers whose creative and editorial choices shaped the work and grew its audience.

It’s for the producer's specific contribution, the risks taken and the outcomes that followed, not for on-mic talent. 

The next generation, already making real work.

This award is for audio made by current students in accredited Australian education programs. Submissions must be works produced during the student's period of enrolment; proof of enrolment at the time of creation is required.

It’s judged against student-level resources, not against fully resourced professional work. 

The work whose listeners are genuinely devoted.

This award honours audio with a demonstrable, sustained relationship with its audience, the shows whose listeners do not just consume but belong. Reach leads, judged in context: depth of connection counts as much as size of following.

If your audience would follow you anywhere, enter here. The winning work is the one that can show the bond, the community that turns up, sticks around, and makes the work part of their lives. Show us the connection, and the proof that it lasts.

Audio that moved a community to feel, think, or act.

This award honours work that produced measurable community outcomes, audio whose effect can be seen out in the world, not just heard. Reach leads, judged relative to context: an independent maker's genuine impact counts as fully as a national campaign's scale.

If your work changed something real, enter here. The winning piece is the one that can show what it moved, the community that felt it, acted on it, became different because of it. Show us the audio that made a wave, and the evidence of where it broke.

Audio that did what the medium had not done before.

This award honours work that broke new ground in form, format, or technology. Originality leads, and the bar is genuine novelty: not a fresh take on a familiar shape, but a real first, a thing the medium could not do until this work did it.

If you pushed the form forward, this is your stage. The winning work is the one others will borrow from, the experiment that becomes a technique, the first that makes a second possible. Enter the work that expanded what audio can be.

Live and recorded events for an audio brand or audience.

This award honours live shows, recordings, and audience gatherings built around an audio brand. Reach leads, because an event's success is measured in the audience it draws and the connection it deepens, the moment audio steps off the feed and into a room.

If you bring your audience together in person, this is your category. The winning event is the one that turned listeners into a crowd, that made the relationship physical and memorable. Enter the event that proved your audience would show up.

The campaign that grew a show's audience.

This award honours marketing and campaign work for audio, the promotion that actually moved the numbers and built the listenership. Reach leads, judged on results: the work that can show it grew the audience it set out to grow.

If you are the reason a show found its people, enter here. The winning campaign is the one with the growth to prove it, the creative that did not just look good but did its job. Show us the marketing that worked, and the evidence that it did.

Video made to extend a show beyond sound.

This award honours video made for an audio brand: clips, full-episode video, social cuts that carry a show into a visual space. Originality leads, because the best audio video is not an afterthought but its own creative act, a genuine extension of the show's identity into a new form.

If you give your audio a visual life, this is your category. The winning work is the one where the video feels native to the show, not bolted on, that grows the work's world rather than just promoting it. Enter the video that made your audio bigger.

The look that gives an audio show its face.

This award honours the visual identity of an audio show: logo, cover art, the design system that gives a show its look. Craft leads the judging, because visual identity is a discipline of execution, the precision and coherence that make a show recognisable at a glance.

If you design the face of audio, enter here. The winning identity is the one a listener spots instantly in a crowded feed, where every visual choice serves the show's character. Show us the design that made the show unmistakable.