The winners of the Audie Awards, the audiobook industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, were announced at the 18th Annual Audies Gala held at The New York Historical Society in New York City on May 30, 2013 and hosted by Daniel Handler (author of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” series written under the name Lemony Snicket). The awards, sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association (APA), recognize distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment.
Same Sun Here (Brilliance), written by Silas House and Neela Vaswani and read by the authors, was the winner of the Children’s Title for Ages 8–12. Alexander McCall Smith’s The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case (Listening Library), read by Adjoa Andoh, received the award in the Children’s Titles for Ages Up to 8 category, while The Fault in Our Stars (Brilliance) by John Green, read by Kate Rudd, won in the Teens category.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Audible), read by a full cast including Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren, Simon Prebble, and others, garnered the awards for Distinguished Achievement in Production as well as Multi-Voiced Performance. The judges remarked that “in this age when encounters with vampires seem to come with the regularity of trips to the grocery store, it is a chilling pleasure to listen to this startlingly terrifying original book.” A complete list of finalists and award winners can be found on the APA’s website.
Michele Cobb, President of the APA, said: “Another great night, another great year, another great list of winners. As the industry grows and thrives we reach new heights of visibility, quality and enthusiasm for the format–all reflected in every one of tonight’s nominees and winners!”
The Audio Publishers Association is a not-for-profit trade organization whose primary goals are to “promote awareness of the audiobook industry, gather and disseminate industry statistics, encourage high production standards, and represent the interests of audiobook publishers.”