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The finalists for the 30th annual Audie Awards, sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association, have been announced. The awards honor the best of the best when it comes to audiobooks. Finalists have been announced in 28 categories, with winners being announced at the annual awards event in New York City on March 4. This year’s awards will be hosted by Amy Sedaris, herself an Audies Award finalist.
Audies Finalists are selected by volunteer judges in three different rounds. Among the judges are those who are professional listeners and reviewers, as well as fans of the audiobook format (and sometimes authors with knowledge in a particular genre or category lend their perspectives as well). This gives an interesting mix of insight into what comprises “the best.” The first round of judges listens to short excerpts from publisher submissions to the Audies to determine eligibility, then those titles are passed along to a second round of judges, who must listen to each of the titles in full. Once the finalists are selected by that second round of judges, a third round of judges make decisions on who will take home the biggest honor in each category.
While the Audies focus on the audiobook itself, judging each title for its performance, direction, production, and content, the titles rounding out this year’s finalists in several categories lack in diversity. There are several categories that offer no books written by authors of color, History/Biography (which is also a slate made up entirely of male-identifying authors), Mystery, and Science Fiction. That doesn’t mean other categories lack representation nor that the performers and production teams are not inclusive; it is, however, important to point out that the range of stories can often continue to uplift those with more privilege.
Here are the finalists in several of the Audie Award Categories.
Audiobook of the Year
- George Orwell’s 1984 by George Orwell, adapted by Joe White; Performed by Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, Tom Hardy, Chukwudi Iwuji, Romesh Ranganathan, Natasia Demetriou, Francesca Mills, Alex Lawther, and Katie Leung; Published by Audible Originals
- My Name Is Barbra Written and narrated by Barbra Streisand; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- Playground: A Novel By Richard Powers; Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Robin Siegerman, Eunice Wong, Pun Bandhu, Krys Janae, and Kevin R Free; Published by Spotify Audiobooks
- Poor Deer By Claire Oshetsky; Narrated by Sophie Amoss; Published by HarperAudio
Autobiography/Memoir
- Farewell Yellow Brick Road By Elton John, foreword by David Furnish; Narrated by Richard Armitage, Vikas Adam, Daniel Henning, Ray Porter, Jesse Einstein, Fred Berman, Edoardo Ballerini, Mark Boyett, Kevin T. Collins, Peter Ganim, Mike Cooper, John Lee, and Oliver Wyman; Published by Audible Studios
- Knife Written and narrated by Salman Rushdie; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- My Name Is Barbra Written and narrated by Barbra Streisand; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
Best Fiction Narration
- Dominic Hoffman for James By Percival Everett; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- Saskia Maarleveld for The Briar Club By Kate Quinn; Published by HarperAudio
- Julia Whelan for The Women By Kristin Hannah; Published by Macmillan Audio
Best Nonfiction Narration
- Justin Vivian Bond for Candy Darling By Cynthia Carr; Published by Macmillan Audio
- Peter Noble for The Wide Wide Sea By Hampton Sides; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- Andia Winslow for Coming Home By Brittney Griner and Michelle Burford; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
Horror
- The Angel of Indian Lake By Stephen Graham Jones; Narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc, Barbara Crampton, Angela Goethals, Andrew J. Robinson, and Stephen Graham Jones with Stephen King; Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
- Bury Your Gays By Chuck Tingle; Narrated by André Santana with special guest appearances by Mara Wilson, CJ Leeds, T. Kingfisher, TJ Klune, Mark Oshiro, Sarah Gailey, Georgia Bird, Liz Keri, Charlie Jane Anders, and Stephen Graham Jones; Published by Macmillan Audio
- I Was a Teenage Slasher: A Novel By Stephen Graham Jones; Narrated by Michael Crouch and Stephen Graham Jones; Published by Simon & Schuster Audio
- Swarm By Jennifer D. Lyle; Narrated by Krystal Hammond; Published by Blackstone Publishing
Young Adult
- Flamboyants Written and narrated by George M. Johnson; Published by Macmillan Audio
- Heir By Sabaa Tahir; Narrated by Vidish Athavale, Esme Lonsdale, Joe Pitts, Marco Young, and Rachel Petladwala; Published by Penguin Random House Audio
- Homebody By Theo Parish; Narrated by Roly Botha, Anabel Baldwin, and George Naylor; Published by HarperAudio
- The Real Education of TJ Crowley: Coming of Age on the Redline By Grant Overstake and May Wuthrich; Narrated by Dani Martineck, Dion Graham, Tavia Gilbert, Johnny Heller, Kevin R. Free, Shayna Small, Ari Fliakos, Michael Crouch, Kirby Heyborne, Graham Halstead, Peter Berkrot, Thérèse Plummer, Brittany Pressley, John Wright, and Sheila Brown Kinnard; Published by Grain Valley Publishing Company and Blackstone Publishing
Check out the full slate of categories and finalists here.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.