First European Podcast Award Announces Winners

HAMBURG, Germany - Europe’s Top Podcasts Receive Accolades

- With Photo

Choosing from ten participating countries across Europe and over 750 nominations, a panel of judges awarded the inaugural European Podcast Award (www.european-podcast-award.eu/.)to five winners from Germany, England and Spain. The award seeks to promote audio podcasters across Europe and encourage the continuation of first-rate achievement in the burgeoning field. All this has been made possible with the exclusive support of Olympus Audio Systems. A video recording of the ceremony and information about the award is available online on the EPA blog at: blog.european-podcast-award.eu/.

(Photo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090409/343783 )

An invitation to attend the award ceremony in Hamburg gave the winners plenty of cause for celebration. The award was accompanied by an elegant glass trophy and a high-end Olympus LS-10 mobile audio recorder. More information is available online at:

www.olympus-europa.com/site/consumer/campaign/ls-10/uk_en/.

David Prest, BBC producer and the English member of the panel of judges, says: “The award does a much needed job all over Europe in recognising excellence in podcasting. These podcasts are clever, creative, imaginative and extremely valuable programmes with high production values.” Event organiser Michel Mertens from the German “Initiative European Podcast Award” continues: “Without the innovative support of Olympus across Europe this would not have been possible.”

All nominated podcasts were judged against comprehensive assessment criteria using online voting and the help of a panel of judges. This first determined national winners and then ultimately revealed the overall European winners. The biggest surprise of all was the Spanish contingent, with the country ranking third after Germany and England due to its high number of nominations.

The European podcasts of the year 2008/2009 are:

- “Schlaflos in München” [Sleepless in Munich] / Germany www.schlaflosinmuenchen.com/ - “The Naked Scientists” / United Kingdom www.thenakedscientists.com/ - “Comunicando Podcast” [Communicating Podcast] / Spain www.comunicandopodcast.com/ - “CoffeBreak Spanish” / United Kingdom coffeebreakspanish.typepad.com/cbs2/ - “ComputerClub 2″ / Germany www.cczwei.de/

Further information about the award can be found online on the EPA blog at: blog.european-podcast-award.eu/. Information about entries for next year’s European Podcast Award, which can be submitted soon, are also available on this site.

About the European Podcast Award:

More than 750 nominated podcasts from 10 countries were judged by a combination of online voting and an international jury in four categories. Entries were evaluated on the basis of consistently defined criteria and awarded up to 625 points. Point totals were then used to determine national winners and the leading European entries. Jury members hail from all represented countries and include radio producers, journalists and podcasters.

http:www.european-podcast-award.eu

About the Organiser:

The “Initiative European Podcast Award” was founded in 2008 in Hamburg, Germany. Since then, over 5000 podcast fans and producers have registered for the award online. Further information: blog.european-podcast-award.eu/

Note to Editors:

A picture accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at www.mediapoint.press.net or www.prnewswire.co.uk.

For questions or additional information, please contact: Myriam Held Olympus Europa Holding GmbH Tel.: +49-40-237-73-5867 Email: myriam.held@olympus-europa.com

Source: Olympus Europa Holding GmbH

For questions or additional information, please contact: Myriam Held, Olympus Europa Holding GmbH, Tel.: +49-40-237-73-5867, Email: myriam.held at olympus-europa.com