Category Archives: Awards

Audie Awards Finalists Announced, Handler to Host Awards Gala

Adam Boretz -- February 21st, 2013
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 audie-awards-crystal-1The Audio Publishers Association announced the finalists for the 2013 Audie Awards — and writer Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), longtime friend and supporter of the audiobook industry, will emcee the Audies Gala on May 30, 2013, at the New-York Historical Society.

“It is always an exciting revelation to see which titles have been nominated, especially as the number of titles produced in audio each year is growing so rapidly,” said Michele Cobb, President of the APA. “Yet again, this year’s finalists do not disappoint. With an outstanding host, an amazing list of potential winners, and a gorgeous venue, we look forward to once again celebrating excellence in audio publishing.”

The finalists for this year’s Audie Awards are:

AUDIO DRAMA

Die, Snow White! Die, Damn You!, by Yuri Rasovsky, Narrated by a full cast, Blackstone Audio.

The Star Angel, by Jerry Robbins, Narrated by Jerry Robbins and The Colonial Radio Players, Brilliance Audio.

Trouble on His Wings, by L. Ron Hubbard, Narrated by Jennifer Aspen, Bob Caso, RF Daley, Jim Meskimen, Matt Scott, Galaxy Press.

Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner, Narrated by Ellen Kushner & Supporting Cast Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, Simon Jones, Sam Guncler & Anne Bobby, SueMedia Productions.

Titanium Rain, Episode One, by Josh Finney, Narrated by a full cast, The AudioComics Company.

BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR Continue reading →

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ALA Hands Out Odyssey Awards

Adam Boretz -- January 29th, 2013
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The ALA has named the Odyssey Award Audiobook and Honor Audiobooks for 2013. The winners are:

2013 Odyssey Award Audiobook

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, narrated by Kate Rudd for Brilliance Audio.

What the ALA said: The Fault in Our Stars perfectly captures the mercurial characters of Hazel Grace and Augustus, teens whose chance meeting in a cancer support group, surprises them both as they embark on an emotional roller coaster of a journey.

“Late in the Midwinter of our deliberations, this exquisitely understated performance by Kate Rudd, captured the magic of John Green’s words and our hearts,” said Odyssey Award Committee Chair Teri S. Lesesne.

2013 Honor Audiobooks

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer, narrated by Nathaniel Parker for Listening Library.

What the ALA said: Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian immerses listeners in a world populated with fairies, trolls, and Opal Koboi — Artemis Fowl’s archenemy. Nathaniel Parker’s energetic performance conveys the rollicking adventures listeners have come to expect from Artemis Fowl.

Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke, narrated by Elliot Hill for Listening Library.

What the ALA said: Ghost Knight gives voice to a pack of apparitions, who endanger the life of Jon Whitcroft, a boy miserably confined to a boarding school. As Jon and his new friend Ella seek to solve a century-old mystery, danger threatens their every move. Elliot Hill’s narration ably balances the real and ghostly worlds.

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama, narrated by Katherine Kellgren for Macmillan Audio.

What the ALA said: Monstrous Beauty intertwines two stories set generations apart, as Hester learns about her ancestor, a mermaid named Syrenka, who left her sea family to pursue her true love on land. Katherine Kellgren brings to life the voice of mermaids, seagulls, ghosts, and contemporary teens in this romance with supernatural overtones.

Congratulations to all the winners!

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The 2012 Listen-Up Awards

Adam Boretz -- January 8th, 2013
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With another year gone, we can look back at the amazing crop of audiobooks from 2012 and find a little something for everyone. Whether you’re a fan of literary fiction or thrillers, celebrity memoirs or classic literature, history, theater, or romance, the audiobook industry had you covered. Among my personal highlights from 2012 are Symphony Space’s great Edgar Allan Poe collection, Selected Shorts: Poe!; David Colacci’s brilliant reading of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; Joan Rivers’s performance of I Hate Everyone… Starting with Me; Johnny Heller’s narration of Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan; and Alan Cumming’s one-man interpretation of Macbeth. Of the hundreds of audiobooks PW reviewed last year, here are the very best.

Fiction

★ Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer, read by Joshilyn Jackson (Macmillan Audio)

PW said: “While Jackson conveys all the book’s humor, her reading is also full of empathy, and she brings out the characters’ underlying humanity. This masterful, flawless narration of an imaginative novel is something special and not to be missed.”

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, read by Tom Hollander (Hachette Audio)

Silent House by Orhan Pamuk, read by a full cast (Random House Audio)

Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers, read by Dion Graham (Recorded Books)

Goats by Mark Jude Poirier, read by Ray Porter (Dreamscape Media)

Selected Shorts: Poe! by Edgar Allan Poe, read by multiple narrators (Symphony Space)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, read by David Colacci (Brilliance Audio)

Blind Goddess by Anne Holt, read by Kate Reading (Blackstone Audio)

A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama, read by Simon Vance (Macmillan Audio)

Pocket Kings by Ted Heller, read by William Roberts (HighBridge Audio)

The Folded Earth by Anuradha Roy, read by Sneha Mathan (Dreamscape Media)

For the rest of the story and all the winners, CLICK HERE.

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BEA 2012 Wrap-Up: APAC, Audie Awards, and More!

Adam Boretz -- June 8th, 2012
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Here at Listen Up, we had an amazing BEA — we were at APAC, we were at The Audie Awards, we were at the Audio Tea, we were even at Johnny Heller’s amazing Listening Lounge.

What’s that you say? You missed BEA? You couldn’t make it to the Audies? Have no fear. Publishers Weekly has you covered. Check out our coverage of All Things Audio at BEA:

BEA 2012: Tina Fey’s ‘Bossypants’ Wins Big at 17th Annual Audie Awards

Tina Fey’s Bossypants was named Audiobook of the Year and Allan Wolf’s The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic won the award for Distinguished Achievement in Production last night at the 17th annual Audies Gala in New York City.

It was the third consecutive year that a Hachette Audio title grabbed the Audie Award’s top honor, with Fey’s self-narrated Bossypants also winning in the Biography/Memoir category. The Watch that Ends the Night — narrated by Michael Page, Phil Gigante, Christopher Lane, Laural Merlington, and Angela Dawe — was one of three Brilliance Audio titles to take home awards.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE.
BEA 2012: Audio All Day

With the growth of online sales and digital formats, the way consumers discover and create buzz about new audiobooks is changing, said Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler in his keynote address that kicked off a busy Audio Publishers Association Conference at the Javits Center on Monday.

With fewer bricks-and-mortar bookstores and more conversations about audiobooks taking place on the Internet and over social networks, audio publishers must leverage online tools to launch and market upcoming releases, asserted Chandler.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE.
BEA 2012: Bestselling Authors Hold Court at Audiobook Tea

Lee Child, Debbie Macomber, and Daniel Handler joined narrator and host Dion Graham to celebrate the audiobook industry yesterday at the 12th Annual Audiobook and Author Tea at BookExpo America.

The event, sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association, featured a series of often-hilarious remarks from Child, Macomber, and Handler and concluded with an audience Q&A session.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE.

And while BEA is over, June is Audiobook Month has only just begun. We’ll be back on Monday with all the latest #JIAM2012 news, giveaways, updates, and a whole lot more.
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Audie Awards Fever!

Adam Boretz -- June 5th, 2012
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With the Audie Awards kicking off in a few short hours, we thought it would be the perfect time to bring you the results of our Informal Audie Awards Polls.

As you dust off your tux or gown and prepare for tonight’s festivities, take a peek at the titles and narrators YOU voted for — and who knows, maybe your predictions will be correct. We’ll find out tonight.

In the Narration by the Author/Authors Category, Tina Fey — with 70 percent of the votes –was the clear winner for her narration of Bossypants. Fey’s closest competitor was Libba Bray for Beauty Queens; she received 13 percent of votes cast.

In the Audio Drama Category, The Mark of Zorro (featuring none other than Val Kilmer) came out on top with 52 percent of the votes. In a tie for second place were The Graduate and I, Claudius — each with 15 percent of all ballots cast.

In the Multi-Voiced Performance Category, The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic lead the way with 69 percent of the vote, while The Graduate again came in second — this time with 17 percent of votes cast.

In the Solo Narration – Male Category, Simon Vance garnered 49 percent of ballots cast for his reading of The King’s Speech. In second place was Bronson Pinchot — 17 percent of the vote — for Hard Magic.

In the Solo Narration – Female Category, Lorelei King received 46 percent of all votes for her performance of First Grave on the Right, while Rosalyn Landor finished in second place with 25 percent of the ballots for The Winter Sea.

In the prestigious Distinguished Achievement in Production Category, The Mark of Zorro won again — it received 62 percent of all votes — while The Watch that Ends he Night: Voices from the Titanic landed in the number two spot with 24 percent of the vote.

And, finally, in the all-important Audiobook of the Year Category, Bossypants and Tina Fey once again came out on top — this time with 63 percent of the vote — while Neil Gaiman’s American Gods placed second with 20 percent of all votes cast.

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Audie Awards 2012: And The Winner Is… Part V

Adam Boretz -- May 25th, 2012
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Today, our Informal Audie Awards Poll goes out with a bang: this is the Big One, the Highest Honor, the Superbowl of Audio Awards. Today we bring you, Audiobook of the Year.

And, as you might expect, the audiobooks in this category are nothing short of spectacular. The nominees for Audiobook of the Year are:

  • American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition, read by Dennis Boutsikaris and a Full Cast (Harper Audio)
  • Bossypants, read by Tina Fey (Hachette Audio)
  • Go the F–k to Sleep, read by Samuel L. Jackson (Audible, Inc./ Brilliance)
  • Steve Jobs, read by Dylan Baker (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Well, which title should be crowned Audiobook of the Year?

 

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Audie Awards 2012: And The Winner Is… Part IV

Adam Boretz -- May 24th, 2012
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The penultimate installment in our Informal Audie Awards Poll looks at a category that seems to get more and more popular every year: audiobooks read by the author.

The nominees for Narration by the Author or Authors are:

  • Stories I Only Tell My Friends, written and read by Rob Lowe (Macmillan Audio)
  • Beauty Queens, written and read by Libba Bray (Scholastic Audiobooks)
  • Drama, written and read by John Lithgow (Harper Audio)
  • 
Seriously…I’m Kidding, written and read by Ellen DeGeneres (Hachette Audio)
  • Bossypants, written and read by Tina Fey (Hachette Audio)

Which author deserves to win the Audie for Narration by the Author or Authors in 2012:

 

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Audie Awards 2012: And The Winner Is… Part III

Adam Boretz -- May 23rd, 2012
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Today — in the third installment of our Informal Audie Awards Poll — we turn to one of the most prestigious prizes up for grabs at this years Audies: Distinguished Achievement in Production.

This one boasts some heavy hitters, some big names, and, of course, some great audiobooks. The Nominees for Distinguished Achievement in Production are:

  • The Mark of Zorro, read by Val Kilmer and a Full Cast (Blackstone Audiobooks)
  • She Walks in Beauty, read by Caroline Kennedy, Jane Alexander, John Bedford Lloyd, Hope Davis, and Campbell Scott (Hyperion Audio)
  • The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic, read by Michael Page, Phil Gigante, Christopher Lane, Laural Merlington, and Angela Dawe(Brilliance Audio/ Candlewick)
  • The Witches of Lublin, read by Tovah Feldshuh, Simon Jones, Barbara Rosenblat, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Boskey, Joanne Borts, Yelena Shmulenson, Joyce Feurring, Tim Jerome, et al. (SueMedia Productions)

Who should be going home with the Hardware? It’s up to YOU.

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Audie Awards 2012: And The Winner Is… Part II

Adam Boretz -- May 22nd, 2012
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In Part II of our Informal Audie Awards Poll, we’re taking a look at two categories — both of which are among my favorites — featuring audiobooks with more than one narrator: Multi-Voiced Performance and Audio Drama.

In the Multi-Voiced Narrator Category, the nominees are:

  • 1Q84, read by Alison Hiroto, Marc Vietor, and Mark Boyett (Audible, Inc./ Brilliance Audio)
  • A Raisin in the Sun, read by Judyann Elder, James Gleason, Noah Gray-Cabey, Corey Hawkins, Deidrie Henry, Terrell Tilford, Rutina Wesley, and Mirron E. Willis (L.A. Theatre Works)
  • Bruiser, read by Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Luke Daniels, and Laura Hamilton (Brilliance Audio)
  • The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic, read by Michael Page, Phil Gigante, Christopher Lane, Laural Merlington, and Angela Dawe (Brilliance Audio/ Candlewick)
  • The Graduate, read by Kathleen Turner, Matthew Rhys, and a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

And in the Audio Drama Category, the nominees are:

  • The Graduate, read by Kathleen Turner, Matthew Rhys, and a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)
  • I, Claudius, read by A Full Cast (AudioGO)
  • The Mark of Zorro, read by Val Kilmer and a Full Cast (Blackstone Audiobooks)
  • We’re Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season, read by A Full Cast(Blackstone Audiobooks)
  • The Arthur Miller Collection, read by A Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

Well, Gentle Readers, the choice is yours. To whom do the Audie Awards Go?



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Audie Awards 2012: And The Winner Is… Part I

Adam Boretz -- May 21st, 2012
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With the Audie Awards fast approaching, we thought it might be fun to highlight some of the great nominees with an Informal Audie Awards Poll — voted on by you, the readers of Listen Up and PW.

To kick things off, we’ll take a look at two very competitive categories: Solo Narration – Male and Solo Narration – Female.

For Solo Narration – Male, the nominees are:

  • Simon Vance for The King’s Speech (Tantor Media)
  • Dion Graham for Going to Meet the Man (AudioGO)
  • Charlton Griffin for The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes: Volume III (Audio Connoisseur)
  • Kenneth Branagh for Heart of Darkness (Audible)
  • Bronson Pinchot for Hard Magic: Grimnoir Chronicles, Book 1 (Audible)

And for Solo Narration – Female, the nominees are:

  • Sissy Spacek for Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter (Random House Audio)
  • Katherine Kellgren for Ashes (Audible/Brilliance Audio)
  • Katherine Kellgren for The Wake of the Lorelei Lee (Listen & Live Audio)
  • Lorelei King for First Grave on the Right (Macmillan Audio)
  • Rosalyn Landor for The Winter Sea (Audible)

Who do YOU think will win?  The polls are NOW OPEN:

 

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