2021 Judging Panel

The Decision Makers

Kate Vale

ALIAVIA Ventures

Kate Vale is a General Partner at ALIAVIA Ventures. She has held roles as Country Manager for Google in Australia and New Zealand as well as Managing Director of Spotify in Australia and New Zealand.

David Lister

Fuse OMD - Head of Experience

David is head of New Zealand’s largest social, content and influencer agency. His work has been recognised internationally including WARC Top 100, Spikes, Axis and The Beacons.

Felicity McVay

TikTok - Director of content and partnerships AU & NZ

Felicity is the current Director of Content and Partnerships at TikTok AU/NZ and has more than 20 years of content experience including as part of Google’s AU/NZ leadership team as Head of YouTube Content Partnerships

Glenn Miller

CAA - Head of Digital & Podcasts

As well as heading up Podcasts and Digital Partnerships at Creative Artists Agency in London, Glenn is also a mentor at Techstars and former head of Entertainment and Media Partnerships, Facebook, EMEA

Lisa Diedricks

Assistant Content Director of rova

Lisa has been with rova for four years and has a strong background in podcast production, music and audio engineering, talent recruitment and management.

Alex Peebles

The Athletic - Commercial Director APAC

Alex is an experienced media executive with more than 16 years of experience across APAC, working for Perform, DAZN and most recently as APAC commercial director for The Athletic.

Ric Salizzo

Producer and Presenter

Ric is best known for producing and presenting long-running sports chat show SportsCafe, as well as executive producing and presenting sports current events show The Crowd Goes Wild.

Liz Ferguson

YouTube Content Partnerships Manager, AU/NZ

Liz is an expert in developing digital communities around great content, having worked with brands, broadcasters, sports federations, music labels and individual video creators, consulting on content and digital audience strategy

Simon Chesterman

Metro Magazine - Publisher

Simon Chesterman is a successful media entrepreneur and the current publisher of Metro Magazine, Auckland's authority on dining, art, society, schools and property.

Selena Shannon

Senior Producer - AUDIOCRAFT

Selena Shannon is a Sydney-based features producer, who has made podcasts for the ABC, Spotify, and Audible. Her stories have explored everything from an amnesiac ghost-hunter in Western Sydney, to the oppression facing hip hop in the Portland music scene. She most recently produced Spotify’s award winning Original, Search Engine Sex. Selena teaches audio storytelling at schools and festivals, and she was previously the Youth Vice President of FBi Radio.

Guy Scott-Wilson

Head of content for Acast

With over 15 years experience in content creation and media in London and Sydney, Guy has been the head of content in Australia and New Zealand since Acast launched in 2017. Under Guy's stewardship, Acast has grown quickly - providing tech, distribution and monetisation for some of the biggest local podcasts and publishers. Guy is highly regarded for his ability to unearth and nurture great content, and is passionate about helping creators to succeed on their own terms.

Megan Whelan

RNZ's head of content

Megan Whelan is RNZ's head of content. She's been a journalist for two decades, covering everything from elections in the Pacific region, to liveblogging the Cricket World Cup final, to vampires taking over Wellington. She's hosted several podcasts, including Great Ideas, a series about the ideas that shape the world we live in. According to the screen time monitor on her phone, she listens to about six hours of podcasts a week (not counting RNZ ones).

James Cridland

Editor of Podnews

James Cridland is Editor of Podnews, a daily podcast newsletter. He is a radio futurologist - a writer, consultant and public speaker on radio’s future. James has worked in audio since 1989 as an award-winning copywriter, radio presenter, and internet strategist. He launched the world’s first streaming radio smartphone app in March 2005, for the original Virgin Radio in London, launching daily podcasts earlier that year. He is also the Director of the Australian Podcast Awards.

David McGuire

Stabl

David McGuire is UK based and runs Stabl, a premium podcast company that produces shows based around lived experiences, and a podcast media sales company called Adelicious, which represents some of the biggest podcasts in the UK, and North America. Starting in radio, producing shows for the likes of BBC Radio 1, 5 Live, and 6 Music, David progressed into podcasting, becoming a consultant for the likes of The Times and The Telegraph newspapers, and various other commercial outlets, before setting out on his own. Fun fact, he once worked at The NZ Herald answering phones.

Justin Gregory

Features Producer RNZ

Justin has been a features producer for Radio New Zealand National since 2005, recording on icebergs in the South Pacific, alongside humpback whales in Tonga, from inside the world’s oldest observatory and while standing outside the Pope’s bedroom. He received the NZ Radio Award for Best New Broadcaster in 2007, won the award for Best Documentary in 2014, 2019 and 2020. He has won two Gold Medals at the New York Festival Radio Awards, a Voyager award and AIB award for Best Investigation.

Rob Kitchen

Founder of bluereef® podcast studio

Rob has over 25 years experience in radio broadcasting and podcast production, working in Wellington, Dubai, London and Cairo. He has hosted some of the most listened to podcasts across the middle east, whilst producing many more for the likes of Virgin, Kiss, and Global. His love of audio inspired Rob to launch bluereef®, a podcast studio made for Kiwi content creators, offering professional sound recording and studio training to podcasters across Aotearoa.

Richard North

Chief Strategy Officer

Richard has 16+ years’ experience in sales, partnerships, commercial and senior leadership roles across the Asia-Pacific region, including 8 years at Google and YouTube and 7 years helping to transform and commercialise global streaming/OTT, online video and influencer marketing startups. Having relocated home to New Zealand, Richard continues to drive new business opportunities for RugbyPass in North America and APAC, whilst running media partnerships and helping to establish new digital revenue streams for Sky Television.