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The ParaPod Awards determine the nominees for a paranormal event

Entertainment

Things that go bump in the night will be honored at the first ParaPod Awards Gala, scheduled for Saturday, April 1 as part of the ParaPod Festival in Santa Clarita, California.

The awards honor influencers and content creators who work in the superhero genre.

“As a content producer and host myself, being able to create a platform to celebrate the superhero genre and the creators who work in it has been a longtime goal,” says Tony Sweet, founder of ParaPod. “Influencers, podcasters, documentary filmmakers, TV producers, and hosts who dare to cover topics like UFOs or Bigfoot are often overlooked by mainstream awards shows, and I want to change that.”

Podcasters whose content covered the paranormal were asked to submit their work in various categories via the ParaPod Festival website. A panel of listeners rated the podcast in the selected categories to create a list of finalists. The final podcast was then heard and evaluated by a second panel to determine the nominees.

The podcast nominees for the ParaPod Awards are:

In the Best UFO Podcast category:

  • Strange Dark Radio
  • UFO Records
  • Paranormal calendar

In the Best True Crime Podcast category:

  • Holyward Paranormal
  • The heart starts pounding
  • ghost town

In the Best Ghost Podcast category:

  • ghost town
  • Mega weird
  • The haunted happy hour

In the Best Spiritual/Psychological Podcast category:

  • magic hour
  • The Renegade Colby Show
  • Paranormal calendar

In the Best Podcast Host(s) category:

  • Jason Horton and Rebecca Lipp
  • Derek Acosta and Johnny Weiss
  • Kailyn Moore

In the Podcast of the Year category:

  • The heart starts pounding
  • ghost town
  • Mega weird

Documentary filmmakers around the world submitted their superhero films in short and feature-form via FilmFreeway.com to be screened and rated by a viewing committee, who determined which films would be official selections. A panel of judges evaluated the films to determine the finalists in each category for the ParaPod Awards.

The finalists for Best Paranormal Documentary Short Film are:

  • (hereafterDirected by Ben Goldman (USA)
  • Close Encounters interview with Preston DennettDirected by Matt Schwartz (USA)
  • plotDirected by Stephen Bradford and Justin Jay Jones (USA)

The finalists for Best Supernatural Documentary Feature are:

  • Meditation: on a psychedelic experience, Directed by Julian Austin Palmer (Australia)
  • Incidental Truth – Unidentified Flying Object DetectionDirected by Ron James (USA)
  • The Black Knight Satellite: Beyond the Signal, Directed by Melissa Teitel (USA)

In addition, the ParaPod Festival social media team has launched an online series of polls to determine the nominees and winners of the ParaPod Audience Favorites Awards for mainstream and supernatural TV series. The ParaPod Awards nominees are:

In the Best UFO Series category:

  • tear in the sky
  • ancient aliens
  • The truth is declassified

In the Best Non-Fiction Ghost Series category:

  • Ghost adventures
  • Destination fear
  • sympathetic souls

In the Best Crypto Investigation Series category:

  • unjustified
  • Mountain monsters
  • Destination fact

In the category of Best TV Psychologist:

  • Chip Coffee
  • Tyler Henry
  • Patty Nigiri

In the Best Paranormal Host category:

  • Ben Hansen
  • Zak Bagans
  • Giorgio Tsocalos.

The content of the podcast nominees and film festival finalists can be viewed online at www.parapodfestival.com in the Podcast Awards Listening Room and Film Festival Screening Room.

The ParaPod Awards will begin immediately after the festival on Saturday, April 1 at 7:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency Valencia.

Podcast host(s):

  • Jason Horton and Rebecca Lipp
  • Derek Acosta and Johnny Weiss
  • Kailyn Moore

In the Podcast of the Year category:

  • The heart starts pounding
  • ghost town
  • Mega weird

Documentary filmmakers around the world submitted their superhero films in short and feature-form via FilmFreeway.com to be screened and rated by a viewing committee, who determined which films would be official selections. Then, a panel of judges evaluated the films to determine the finalists in each category for the ParaPod Awards.

The finalists for Best Paranormal Documentary Short Film are:

  • (hereafterDirected by Ben Goldman (USA)
  • Close Encounters interview with Preston DennettDirected by Matt Schwartz (USA)
  • plotDirected by Stephen Bradford and Justin Jay Jones (USA)

The finalists for Best Supernatural Documentary Feature are:

  • Meditation: on a psychedelic experience, Directed by Julian Austin Palmer (Australia)
  • Incidental Truth – Unidentified Flying Object DetectionDirected by Ron James (USA)
  • The Black Knight Satellite: Beyond the Signal, Directed by Melissa Teitel (USA)

In addition, the ParaPod Festival social media team has launched an online series of polls to determine the nominees and winners of the ParaPod Audience Favorites Awards for mainstream and supernatural TV series. The ParaPod Awards nominees are:

In the Best UFO Series category:

  • tear in the sky
  • ancient aliens
  • The truth is declassified

In the Best Non-Fiction Ghost Series category:

  • Ghost adventures
  • Destination fear
  • sympathetic souls

In the Best Crypto Investigation Series category:

  • unjustified
  • Mountain monsters
  • Destination fact

In the category of Best TV Psychologist:

  • Chip Coffee
  • Tyler Henry
  • Patty Nigiri

In the Best Paranormal Host category:

  • Ben Hansen
  • Zak Bagans
  • Giorgio Tsocalos.

The content of the podcast nominees and film festival finalists can be viewed online at www.parapodfestival.com in the Podcast Awards Listening Room and Film Festival Screening Room.

The ParaPod Awards will begin immediately after the festival on Saturday, April 1 at 7:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency Valencia. The Awards Ceremony is open to speakers, invited guests and VIP ticket holders only. VIP weekend tickets are available online at www.parapodfestival.com.


Joanna Swanson

Joanna Swanson is Europe correspondent at the Thomson Reuters Foundation based in Brussels covering politics, culture, business, climate change, society, economies and inclusive tech. With specific focus in breaking news, she has covered some of the world's most significant stories.