Echoes and Footprints Wins Six Awards at the 2026 BPAwards

BPAwards closed its seventh season with a private Winners Reveal and Speeches event held online. The night counted 66 award wins across 57 categories, earned by one Legend honoree and 44 podcasts.

Echoes and Footprints made history with six wins: Best Culture, Best Documentary, Best Education, Best History, Best Indie and Best Travel.

Four shows with three wins each

Yahweh’s Money®: The Crossroads of Religion & Money won Best Branded, Best Christian and Best Finance. The Good Edit Unfiltered took Best Daily, Best Original Music and Best Producer. A Little Bit A Lot won Best Episode of the Year, Best Solo Host and a share of Podcaster of the Year. The Secret Life of TK Dutes shared Podcaster of the Year and added two more wins, including Best Personal Journals.

Kevin Y. Brown receives the Legend Award

The Legend Award went to Kevin Y. Brown, chosen by community vote and the BPAwards VIP judging panel. BPAwards says Brown “has spent years connecting creators, entrepreneurs, and industry voices throughout the diaspora and across the African continent.”

The biggest prizes

Podcast of the Year went to Joe and Jada in the listener vote and to Normal Gossip in the judges’ vote. Podcaster of the Year went to The Secret Life of TK Dutes in the VIP vote and to A Little Bit A Lot in the judges’ vote.

Sista Brunch won Best Guest Appearance, plus both the listener vote and the VIP vote for Best Podcast Cover Art. Beards, Bourbon, Whiskey Podcast took the judges’ vote in that category.

What BPAwards says about listeners

BPAwards pointed to a few figures. Black podcasts make up 0.5 percent of all active podcasts, yet 49 percent of Black Americans age 12 and older listen to podcasts monthly and 28 percent listen weekly. Among adult Black monthly listeners, 63 percent say Black stories and perspectives are important and 50 percent say Black hosts are important. Seventy-three percent of Black listeners remember brands advertised on podcasts, compared with 70 percent of the overall population.

Executive Director Demetrius Bagley said the awards have processed more than 400 nominees, 36 award categories, 126 winners and 76 volunteer judges over their history.

Applications for 2027

Applications for the 2027 awards are open through August 1, 2027 at apply.BlackPodAwards.com. BPAwards is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Every 2026 winner

• Legend Award: Kevin Y. Brown
• Podcast of the Year: Joe and Jada (listener vote); Normal Gossip (judges vote)
• Podcaster of the Year: The Secret Life of TK Dutes (VIP vote); A Little Bit A Lot (judges vote)
• Best Arts: The Drum Lounge Podcast
• Best Black Girl Magic: brown girls can: the podcast
• Best BLERD: Tha Storm Podcast
• Best Branded: Yahweh’s Money®: The Crossroads of Religion & Money
• Best Business: My Friend in HR
• Best Christian: Yahweh’s Money®: The Crossroads of Religion & Money
• Best Comedy: : lower black pain
• Best Culture: Echoes and Footprints
• Best Daily: The Good Edit Unfiltered
• Best Documentary: Echoes and Footprints
• Best Editing: Surviving Satchidananda: The Dark Secrets of an International Yoga Movement
• Best Education: Echoes and Footprints
• Best Entrepreneur: Breaking Rank
• Best Episode of the Year: Me in the Making Podcast (listener vote); A Little Bit A Lot (VIP vote); Ernestly Speaking! with Ernest Owens (judges vote)
• Best Family and Parenting: Pouring and Parenting
• Best Film and Television: SEATED
• Best Finance: Yahweh’s Money®: The Crossroads of Religion & Money
• Best Guest Appearance: Sista Brunch
• Best Health and Wellness: Deep Care
• Best History: Echoes and Footprints
• Best Hosting Duo: Unveil: Intuitively Unlearning Life’s BS
• Best Hosting Team: Oliver Happy Hour
• Best Indie: Echoes and Footprints
• Best International: African Couch Potato
• Best Interviewer: Belonging to Blackness (VIP vote); How I Got Here with Dreena Whitfield (judges vote)
• Best LGBTQ: Hella Chisme
• Best Limited Series: Crying Wolf
• Best Literary: The Book Up with Verdell Walker
• Best Longtime Podcast: Belonging to Blackness
• Best Music: Oliver Happy Hour
• Best New Podcast: Bet On Yourself, Sis!
• Best New Video Podcast: SEATED
• Best News and Politics: Unnamed and Unbound: Black Voters Matter Podcast
• Best Original Music, Intro/Outro: Dem Bois Podcast (listener and VIP vote); The Good Edit Unfiltered (judges vote)
• Best Personal Development: Making Space For Me
• Best Personal Journals: The Secret Life of TK Dutes
• Best Podcast Cover Art: Sista Brunch (listener and VIP vote); Beards, Bourbon, Whiskey Podcast (judges vote)
• Best Podcast Introduction: Bounce Back, Black Woman!
• Best Podcast Outro: The Drum Lounge Podcast
• Best Podcast Trailer: Meet Me at the Highland™
• Best Producer: The Good Edit Unfiltered
• Best Production Company of the Year: Could Be Pretty Cool
• Best Regional: Black Man’s Roundtable
• Best Relationship: Thrive with Joy
• Best Religion and Spirituality: Seen. Heard. Imagined.
• Best Science and Technology: Made For Us
• Best Scripted Fiction: Tales of Fists & Fireballs
• Best Short-form: Urban Roots
• Best Solo Host: A Little Bit A Lot
• Best Sports: The Fantasy Commissioner Show
• Best Travel: Echoes and Footprints
• Best True Crime: Surviving Satchidananda: The Dark Secrets of an International Yoga Movement
• Best Video Podcast: Meet Me at the Highland™
• Best Youth: The Music Box