The thing about the Audie Awards is that they aren't just the "Oscars of audiobooks." They’re more like a pulse check on what we’re actually doing with our ears while we’re stuck in traffic or doing the dishes. Honestly, the 2025 Audie Awards felt different. Usually, there’s a clear frontrunner that everyone agrees on, but this year was a dogfight between legacy icons and some truly experimental stuff that pushed the boundaries of what a "book" even is.
If you’ve been following the current nominations for 2025 Audie Awards, you already know the big news. Barbra Streisand didn't just show up; she basically owned the room. Her memoir, My Name Is Barbra, took home Audiobook of the Year. It’s kind of a beast—nearly 48 hours long—but hearing Babs herself tell her story makes every second feel like you’re sitting in her living room. With this win, she’s officially entered the "EGOTA" club. That’s Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, and now Audie. Not a bad resume.
The Heavy Hitters and Shocking Wins
Let’s talk about the big categories because the competition was actually insane. For the 2025 Audie Awards, the Audiobook of the Year finalists were a mix of high-concept fiction and gritty journalism. You had Playground by Richard Powers, which is this massive, sweeping story about the ocean, and The Sing Sing Files by Dan Slepian, which is a heartbreaking look at wrongful convictions.
But Streisand’s win wasn't the only headline. In the Best Fiction Narrator category, Julia Whelan took the trophy for her work on Kristin Hannah’s The Women. If you haven’t listened to it, Whelan manages to capture the trauma of Vietnam-era nurses with this specific kind of grit that most actors can't touch. It’s her second or third win in recent years, cementing her as basically the G.O.A.T. of the narrator world.
On the nonfiction side, Justin Vivian Bond won Best Nonfiction Narrator for Candy Darling by Cynthia Carr. It was a perfect match. Bond brings this cabaret-legend energy to the life of a Warhol superstar. It’s immersive. It’s messy. It’s exactly what an audiobook should be.
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Why 1984 is Still Winning Awards in 2025
One of the coolest things about the 2025 nominations was the surge in "Audio Drama." This isn't just someone reading a book; it’s a full-on cinematic experience with sound effects and a massive cast. Audible’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 won Best Audio Drama, and for good reason.
The cast list is a literal fever dream:
- Andrew Garfield as Winston Smith
- Cynthia Erivo as Julia
- Andrew Scott (yes, Moriarty himself) as O’Brien
- Tom Hardy as Big Brother
It’s terrifying. Listening to it with noise-canceling headphones is a choice—you’ll feel like the Thought Police are actually in your kitchen. It beat out some heavy hitters too, like Brokedown Prophets which featured Jonathan Majors and Brian Tyree Henry.
The Genre Winners You Should Queue Up Next
The genre categories are usually where I find my favorite listens because they’re less about the "literary prestige" and more about pure storytelling. Percival Everett’s James—a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective—won for Literary Fiction & Classics. Dominic Hoffman’s narration is a masterclass. He switches between the "slave dialect" Jim uses to survive and the sophisticated, intellectual voice Jim uses in his own head. It’s brilliant.
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In the Romance category, Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us took the win. Narrated by Inés del Castillo and Jakobi Diem, it’s a masterclass in emotional pacing. Kennedy Ryan has a way of making you feel like your own heart is being ripped out and then gently taped back together.
And we have to mention the Judges’ Category: Horror. This year, it went to Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle. If you only know Tingle for his weirdly titled satirical novellas, you’re missing out. This book is a genuine, chilling critique of how Hollywood treats marginalized characters, and the audio production is top-tier.
Celebrity Memoirs: More Than Just Name Dropping
We’re in the golden age of the "author-narrated" memoir. Whoopi Goldberg won Best Narration by the Author for Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me. It’s a raw look at her life before the fame, and you can hear the emotion in her voice when she talks about her family. It’s one of those rare cases where a physical book just wouldn't do the story justice.
Other notable finalists in the memoir space included:
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- Kelly Bishop (Emily Gilmore herself!) for The Third Gilmore Girl
- Salman Rushdie for Knife
- Sebastian Junger for In My Time of Dying
What This Means for Your Listening Habits
So, why does any of this matter? Basically, the 2025 Audie Awards show that the "industry" is moving away from the "one person reading a book" model. We're seeing more multi-voice casts, more original scores, and more authors who are actually trained performers.
If you're looking to upgrade your library, here’s the move:
- Start with "James." It’s the smartest thing you’ll listen to all year.
- Download "1984" if you want to be stressed out in the best way possible.
- Grab "The Women" for a long road trip. Julia Whelan’s voice is like a warm blanket that happens to be telling a very intense story.
The 2025 Audie Awards prove that audio isn't a secondary way to consume books anymore. It's its own art form. Whether it's a 48-hour Streisand marathon or a 10-hour horror show by Chuck Tingle, the bar has never been higher.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check the Audio Publishers Association website for the full list of category winners if you're looking for niche genres like "Business" or "Middle Grade."
- Sample the first 5 minutes of James on your preferred platform; the linguistic shifts are something you have to hear to understand.
- Keep an eye on the 2026 rule changes—the APA is combining "Audio Drama" and "Multi-Voiced Performance" into a new Ensemble Performance category, which is going to be a bloodbath next year.