The Awards Committee for the Canadian Society of Digital Humanities is delighted to share that the Amplify Podcast Network has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 CSDH/SCHN Outstanding Contribution Award. The Amplify Podcast Network, led by PI Dr. Hannah McGregor (Simon Fraser University) alongside co-directors Dr. Stacey Copeland (University of Groningen), and Senior Editor Siobhan McMenemy (Wilfrid Laurier University Press), joins the legacy of winning scholarly undertakings that have been helping to shape the field of the digital humanities in Canada and beyond, and we are so happy to include the outstanding work being undertaken by this exceptional project and its collaborators in this history.
The Amplify Podcast Network is a first-of-its-kind Digital Humanities project committed to supporting the creation of scholarly podcasts while also building the support needed, from new peer review processes to digital preservation tools to open access guides to making your own academic podcast. The project’s podcasts and other various research outputs explicitly or implicitly engage with the question of what constitutes scholarship by pushing boundaries, whether they are formal, methodological, theoretical, or otherwise. The team hopes this work stands as a model for others interested in exploring podcasting as a form of Digital Humanities scholarship.
In reviewing the application materials and the project’s numerous innovations and achievements, the committee noted in particular that the Amplify Podcast Network is poised to shift the field and noted especially the impact of the cross-sectoral approach of the collaborative project, bringing academics, publishers, and broader publics into meaningful contact and conversation. We agree with the nominator’s statement that this is “a prime moment to reflect on the achievements of its final development years.” All in all, we are impressed with the breadth, scope, and detail of the project and feel the effects of Amplify will reverberate through Canadian and international scholarship for years to come.
