Launched in partnership with AFTRS, the SONARR Awards features 35 categories, a dedicated $10,000 prize pool, and a formal gala dinner designed from the ground up to reflect how Australians actually make and consume audio today.
SONARR, short for Sound and Narrative, covers the full audio landscape across Podcast, Radio, Audiobook, and Voice-over. It includes 35 categories, a dedicated $10,000 prize pool split evenly between commercial and indie streams, practitioner-led judging, and a formal gala dinner on 15 October 2026 at Machine Hall.
The Australian Commercial Radio Awards ran for decades before ending in 2025. The last Australian Podcast Awards was held in 2024.
Pariya Taherzadeh founded SONARR in response: an independent program that spans the full medium, recognises independent creators and pairs accessibility with the prestige of a proper gala presentation.
Australia’s audio industry has four active and disruptive cores including podcast, radio, audiobook, and voice-over. SONARR’s 35 categories are organised into six judging blocks spanning sound, narrative, voice, impact, vision, and the grand prize.
The program recognises creators who have historically been marginalised in industry awards, with dedicated categories for First Nations creators, CALD, LGBTQIA+, female creators, students, and independent producers.
Submission fees are structured to be accessible to independent and emerging creators.
The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) has joined SONARR as its founding educational partner. It has naming rights attached to the ‘AFTRS Narrative Excellence Award’, that recognises outstanding original audio storytelling across fiction and non-fiction work.
SONARR Awards executive producer and founder Pariya Taherzadeh siad: “Audio in Australia is not one simple industry. It’s a vast, multifaceted world of radio, podcast, audiobook, and voice, converging into something entirely new every day. SONARR exists to recognise that convergence, to elevate the craft that drives it, and to make sure the creators building this future are finally seen. Not just the biggest ones, but the independent, the regional, and the underrepresented.”
