In an outstanding international coup, LiSTNR’s Australian-produced The Children in the Pictures podcast series has won GOLD in the ‘Narrative/Documentary Podcasts’ category at the prestigious 2023 New York Festivals Radio Awards announced this morning.
The New York Festivals Radio Awards has been celebrating world-class storytellers for 67 years, recognising innovation and excellence in broadcast audio content across all genres and platforms. The awards were presented at the ‘Storytellers Gala’ event in New York today.
LiSTNR’s The Children in the Pictures won Gold against a shortlist of 30 of some of the world’s greatest documentary makers including the BBC, ABC in Australia, ESPN, Crooked Media, iHeart Media in the US, and Radio Canada.
Harrowing and challenging, but an important listen, The Children in the Pictures is a LiSTNR and DNX Media original docu-series podcast that follows the Queensland Police investigation into notorious child exploitation website, ‘The Love Zone’, which hosted thousands of members around the world who created, uploaded, and shared videos and photographic material of unimaginable acts against children.
It is a standout listening experience that has garnered global acclaim and a large global listenership. In the series, Australian documentary-maker Akhim Dev follows this elite team of Australian investigators, Taskforce Argos, who use their global connections and controversial undercover strategies to take down hands-on abusers and save The Children in the Pictures. Considered a landmark investigation, it is the first time undercover agents were able to take over and run a vast and secretive criminal network from the inside.
The eight-part podcast series is a powerful examination into how child abuse has become endemic online, and what needs to be done to fight it. It also reveals just how heroic Taskforce Argos were.
SCA CEO, Grant Blackley, said: “It is an absolute honour to be recognised at the prestigious New York Festivals Radio Awards for LiSTNR’s original podcast The Children in the Pictures. Sincere congratulations to the entire LiSTNR Factual and Drama team led by Jennifer Goggin. Their commitment in researching and curating this innovative audio documentary, is both inspiring and humbling. This outstanding piece of work highlights the unique power of audio, while showcasing the importance of local storytelling.
“I’d also like to acknowledge LiSTNR and Network 10’s co-production of Shockwaves: The Bali Bombings podcast thatwas recognised as a finalist in the ‘Heroes’ category, further demonstrating LiSTNR’s expertise in audio documentary making.”
LiSTNR Head of Factual and Drama, Jennifer Goggin said she and the entire team were thrilled to have the podcast recognised at such a prestigious and global level.
“It was important to us that we told a compelling story, in a trauma-informed way, that helped to raise the alarm of how prevalent the problem of child abuse is and how child abuse material is traded online,” she said.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team who brought all their creativity, sensitivity, brilliant audio production, and storytelling brains together to tackle this challenging subject in such a compelling, audio-first way. We hope winning this award helps more people find the podcast and educate themselves about this type of crime, and how they can better protect their children.”
Documentary-maker Akhim Dev thanked the New York Festivals for recognising this story. “It was a difficult but important documentary to make. We wanted to do justice to victim-survivors, and the members of law enforcement who continue to fight this epidemic. We hope this award helps us all continue the fight even further,” he said.
Listen to The Children In The Pictures podcast:
LiSTNR is the home of true crime podcasts. Discover more episodes on the free LiSTNR app.