Awards were presented to podcasts and their hosts, documentary filmmakers, and television shows and personalities from across the genre.
On Saturday, April 1, at the Hyatt Regency Valencia, the ParaPod Awards claimed a little corner of the awards season for themselves, being the first to honor the influencers and content creators working in the paranormal genre. The awards, which were the closing event of the two-day ParaPod Festival, were presented to podcasts and their hosts, documentary filmmakers, and television shows and personalities from across the genre.
"The mainstream awards seem to skip over paranormal content," says ParaPod founder Tony Sweet. "However, it takes no less time, skill, and talent to cover our genre than it does any other. So, why not create an awards platform to celebrate these brilliant individuals?"
Actress and podcaster Jillian Clare (Days of Our Lives, Alien Abduction) was on hand to present the podcast and documentary category awards.
From the podcasters who submitted their content for consideration, three top selections in each category were judged for the winning spot. The winners of the ParaPod Podcast Awards are:
In the category of Best UFO Podcast: UFO Chronicles Podcast
In the category of Best True Crime Podcast: Heart Starts Pounding
In the category of Best Ghost Podcast: Ghost Town
In the category of Best Spiritual/Psychic Podcast: The Colby Rebel Show
In the category of Best Podcast Host(s): Kaelyn Moore
And in the category of Podcast of the Year: Heart Starts Pounding
Documentary filmmakers from around the world submitted their short-form and feature-length paranormal films via FilmFreeway.com to be rated by a panel of judges. The winners of the ParaPod Film Festival Awards are:
Best Short Paranormal Documentary: The Conspiratologist, directed by Stephen Bradford and Justin Jay Jones (USA).
Best Feature Paranormal Documentary: Accidental Truth - UFO Revelations, directed by Ron James (USA)
Audiences of the Truth Be Told Paranormal podcast series, the official media partner of the event, were polled on social media to submit and vote for their favorite, paranormal television shows and personalities in several categories. The winners of the ParaPod Audience Poll Awards are:
In the category of Best UFO Series: Ancient Aliens
In the category of Best Nonfiction Ghost Series: Kindred Spirits
In the category of Best Cryptid Investigation Series: Destination Truth
In the category of Best TV Psychic Medium: Patti Negri
And in the category of Best Paranormal Host: Giorgio Tsoukalos
The winners all received a handsome, custom-created ParaPod Award. Podcast and filmmaker winners will be offered a non-exclusive contract to air their content on the ParaPod TV Roku channel. The winner of the Best Feature Paranormal Documentary also received a sponsored one-year subscription to WriterDuet Pro.
Additionally, the festival presented a Media Legend Award to Emmy and Peabody-award- winning investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe, who has covered UFO and disclosure topics for over forty years and has become one of the most recognized names in the paranormal genre. Best-selling author and producer Billy Carson was the recipient of the Pioneer Award for his work in bringing paranormal content into the mainstream.
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