Voice of Real Australia podcast shortlisted for award at Newcastle Podcast Festival

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Voice of Real Australia is a colourful documentary-style podcast which showcases regional stories to an audience around the country. It has been nominated in the Community Empowerment category at the Newcastle Podcast Festival.

The inaugural Newcastle Podcast Festival has a number of partners, including the Newcastle Podcast Station and Newcastle Libraries. It kicks off on Friday with a series of panel discussions and talks at the Newcastle Digital Library on Stewart Avenue.

Voice of Real Australia host Tom Melville says "it's really exciting to be nominated in the Community Empowerment category. We really want our podcast to be a platform for regional voices and stories from outside the big cities."

Since the podcast launched in September it has covered the coal-ash dams of Lake Macquarie, Dungog's biking boom, the Aurora Australis icebreaker, the Tasmanian devils released in the Barrington Tops and many more riveting stories from across the country.

You can see Tom Melville talking podcasts on the festival panel Podcasting as storytelling and lifelong learning medium.

The festival runs over the weekend and the awards ceremony will be held on Sunday evening at Novotel Newcastle Beach.

You can vote for the Voice of Real Australia podcast, simply go to newcastlepodcastfestival.com, scroll down, click on "vote for a podcast" and select the Community Empowerment category.