Sarah Spain emphasized the “thrilling” rise in attention on women’s sports as she accepted the 2025 Social Impact Award at the HeartPodcast Awards on Monday evening (March 10). The annual show returned to SXSW in Austin, Texas.
Spain, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist, earned laughs from the audience as she accepted her award from actor and comedian Ed Helms, and said “I was expecting this,” as opposed to other award winners who expressed surprise. Spain, however, said she expected the honor “not only because there are no other nominees, but they did tell me in advance.” She said in her speech:
Spain won the 2025 Social Impact Award “for her pivotal role in championing equity in sports coverage, equal pay for female athletes and better investment in women’s sports infrastructure.” iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment https://www.iheart.com/content/2024-07-17-iheartmedia-debuts-good-game-with-sarah-spain-podcast/ as part of the iHeart Women’s Sports Network. Its description reads:
Other iHeartPodcast Award honorees throughout the evening include Dan Taberski (2025 Audible Audio Pioneer Award), Daniel Alarcón (2025 Innovator Award) and more. See the complete list of winners here (including the coveted Podcast of the Year honor), and find Good Game with Sarah Spain here.
