2025 AUDIE AWARDS® CATEGORIES

General Categories
1. FICTION: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a fiction audiobook. This category is for titles that do not fit into specific fiction categories 2-8. English language only.

2. LITERARY FICTION & CLASSICS: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an audiobook of literary fiction or a classic. English language only.

3. MYSTERY: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a mystery audiobook, usually featuring a protagonist trying to solve a crime, such as murder, committed early in the story. English language only.

4. THRILLER/SUSPENSE: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a thriller/suspense audiobook, usually featuring a hero racing to stop a catastrophe. English language only.

5. SCIENCE FICTION: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a science fiction audiobook, involving an alternate reality based on possible science (however far-fetched). English language only.

6. FANTASY: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a fantasy or paranormal audiobook, involving a world of magic and fantastical creatures brought to life. For example, the story may contain fairies, wizards, vampires, zombies, ghosts, werewolves, etc. English language only.

7. ROMANCE: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an audiobook of romance, including romantic suspense, historical romance, etc. NOTE: there is now a seperate category for erotica. English language only.

8. EROTICA: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an erotic audiobook.  Any titles with erotic content are best served in this category. English language only.

9. NON-FICTION: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a non-fiction audiobook. This category is for those titles that do not fit into the specific non-fiction categories 10-12. English language only.

10. HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a historical or biographical audiobook (these two categories are combined since a biography is an account or history of a person’s life). English language only.

11. AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an autobiography or a memoir. Both of these are an author’s account of their own life, whether straightforward (autobiography) or as a literary story drawn from the person’s life (memoir). English language only.

12. BUSINESS/PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a personal development or motivational audiobook. English language only.

13. FAITH-BASED FICTION OR NON-FICTION: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a spiritual or faith-based audiobook. English language only.

14. HUMOR: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a humorous audiobook. English language only.

15. SHORT STORIES/COLLECTIONS: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an audiobook that consists of stories, essays, anecdotes, or other short prose or poetry elements. English language only.

16. ORIGINAL WORK: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an audiobook that is not based on a print work. English language only.

17. YOUNG LISTENERS: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a children’s audiobook for ages up to 8, including audiobook+book sets. English language only.

18. MIDDLE GRADE: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a children’s audiobook intended for middle readers, ages 8-12. English language only.

19. YOUNG ADULT: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a teen audiobook, ages 13-18. English language only.

20. UK-Produced Audiobook: For excellence in narration, production, and content of an audiobook that is produced in the United Kingdom.  *Title is not required to be available for sale in the United States. 

21. SPANISH LANGUAGE: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a Spanish language audiobook. Fiction and non-fiction titles are eligible, as are single and multi-voiced productions; learning language titles are not.

ESPAÑOL: Por excelencia en narración, producción y contenido de un audiolibro en idioma español. Tanto títulos de ficción y no ficción son elegibles para esta categoría, así como las producciones a una o varias voces. No aplica a títulos sobre aprendizaje del idioma.

22. JUDGES CATEGORY: HORROR: For excellence in narration, production, and content of a horror audiobook, usually designed to scare and shock the listener into a sense of impending doom. English language only.

Narration Categories
23. AUDIO DRAMA: For excellence in performance, production, and content of an audiobook recording performed by multiple narrators who use interactive dialogue. Often includes sound effects. English language only.

24. BEST FICTION NARRATOR: For excellence in the solo reading of a fiction audiobook. English language only.

25. BEST NON-FICTION NARRATOR: For excellence in the solo reading of a non-fiction audiobook. English language only.

26. NARRATION BY THE AUTHOR(S): For excellence in the narration of an audiobook, read solely by the author(s). English language only.

27. MULTI-VOICED PERFORMANCE: For excellence in a multi-voiced performance of an audiobook which includes multiple readers who do not interact.  English language only.

Audiobook of the Year Category
28. AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR: This award recognizes a title with high-quality content and production values that stands as a benchmark of excellence for the industry. The Audiobook of the Year should serve as a worthy ambassador to new and current listeners, and be a paragon of the audiobook art. Additional items considered by the judges include success of marketing and publicity, visibility, impact, commercial success, and recruitment of new listeners to the format. Submission must include this Audiobook of the Year Supplemental form (due no later than 10/31/24), which will aid the judges in determining finalists.  English language only.