INSIDE THE PODCAST OF THE YEAR NOMINEES MORIARTY

CHAMELEON: WILD BOYS

Campside Media, Sony Music Entertainment

→ The true story of the untrue story told by two young men who said they were raised in the wild. FAVORITE EPISODE? “I like the pilot,” says host Sam Mullins. “There’s something so classic about a story that begins with a couple of curious strangers blowing into town.”

DESIGN MATTERS WITH DEBBIE MILLMAN

TED Audio Collective

→ The O.G. podcast (launched in 2005) features interviews with creators and tastemakers, with a focus on design. WHY A PODCAST? “It creates a uniquely intimate atmosphere where my guests are able to share who they are without reservation,” says host Millman.

DIRECT DEPOSIT Audible

→ Tech entrepreneur turned author Chad Sanders — a Spike Lee mentee and writer on Rap Sh!t — speaks with Black luminaries about thorny questions of wealth. QUOTED “I just didn’t know what it meant to have money. I was eating the $3 knishes on the street.” — Issa Rae, in episode one

FIASCO: THE AIDS CRISIS

Audible

→ In Fiasco’s fifth season, journalist Leon Neyfakh examines the origins of the AIDS epidemic.

WHY A PODCAST? “What someone sounds like when they speak about the past tells you so much,” says Neyfakh, “and can leave a mark on a listener’s consciousness in a way no other medium can.”

GAY PRIDE & PREJUDICE Spotify, Gimlet Media

→ A comedic retelling of the Jane Austen classic, set just after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. FAVORITE EPISODE? “Episode eight,” says creator Zackary Grady. “Chris Ryan’s score (which was also nominated for an Ambie) lifts everything in such a beautiful way.”

Audible, Treefort Media

→ The 10-episode series revisits the Sherlock Holmes tales from the perspective of the detective’s archnemesis.

WHY A PODCAST? “Our goal was to captivate listeners with a cinematic experience in their minds, transporting them to a time period that would have cost millions of dollars to create in visual media,” says Treefort’s Kelly Garner.

PINK CARD

30 for 30, Shirazad Productions

→ A three-decade saga about Iranian women fighting for the freedom to attend live soccer games.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE?

“I established numerous channels of communication inside Iran that changed over time to evade surveillance,” says creator Shima Oliaee. “Securing the women’s trust in the most difficult of times was key.”

RECLAIMED: THE STORY OF MAMIE TILL-MOBLEY ABC Audio

→ The docuseries recounts how Emmett Till’s mother’s courage in publicizing his murder helped spark the civil rights movement, drawing from archival recordings among other sources. QUOTED “I can’t remember a day that I have been free from the memory of Emmett’s death.” — Mamie Till-Mobley

THE OUTLAW OCEAN

CBC, Los Angeles Times

→ The New York Times’ Ian Urbina leads a seven-part investigation of piracy, murder and other crimes in the lawless high seas. FAVORITE EPISODE “Episode seven,” says Urbina. “It’s the most personal and reflective about the larger context in which all of the stories happen. It’s the combination of almost a decade of reporting and it gets crystallized in that episode.”

THE PRINCE

The Economist

→ Sue-Lin Wong, The Economist’s China correspondent, chronicles the rise of Xi Jinping, China’s all-powerful premier. WHY A PODCAST?

“Podcasting allowed us to embrace the ambiguous parts of this complicated story,” says Wong, “to encourage the audience to make up their own minds and to move listeners in a way that is harder in print.”