2025 Audio Description Awards Gala, November 13, 2025

·1 hr 8 min·5 clips

Hosts Allie and Ashley welcome viewers to the world's most inclusive awards show at 30 Rock, announcing over 12 audio description categories.

The episode is a recording of the 2025 Audio Description Awards Gala, produced by the Audio Description Project of the American Council of the Blind. Hosts Allie B. Gorey and Ashley J. Hicks open the event at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City, emphasizing the gala's inclusivity with multiple languages and accessibility features. Debra Cook Lewis, president of ACB, and Scott Thornhill, executive director, provide context on ACB's advocacy and the awards' expansion. The first award presented is the Audio Description Visionary Award to Matt Kapowitz, recognized for his work on accessibility standards and creative productions. Subsequent awards include the Innovation Award to EarCatch for its mobile app delivering audio description globally, the Gaming Award to Ubisoft for integrating audio description into games like Star Wars Outlaws, and the Education Award to Bridge Multimedia for producing over 7,000 hours of educational audio description. Other honorees include HBO Max for popular entertainment, Descriptive Video Works for live events, and the Described and Captioned Media Program for Spanish media. The People's Choice Awards feature clips from finalists like Dying for Sex and Flo, with winners announced later. Awards for writing and voicing go to Liz Gutman and posthumously to Diane Newman, respectively. The episode concludes with thanks to sponsors and a call for donations to support the Audio Description Project. Throughout, the format alternates between award presentations, acceptance speeches, and descriptive clips, highlighting the community and technological advancements in audio description.

As heard by us

A polished awards gala that makes audio description feel central, not auxiliary.

This gala episode treats audio description as both access work and a real craft, with attention on the awards, the honorees, and the gratitude that threads through the speeches.

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Why you'd press play

Press play to hear audio description treated as craft, community, and live-event discipline.

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