Life advice wins Nova's first Podquest search

• New "Confessions of a Twenty Something Train Wreck" podcasts coming soon on Nova podcast platform

Nova Entertainment announced Phoebe Parsons, host of the podcast Confessions of a Twenty Something Train Wreck, as the inaugural winner of Podquest, an initiative which was launched to discover and support new and emerging podcasters from around Australia.

Confessions of a Twenty Something Train Wreck focuses on Parsons, a twenty-something train wreck who’s failed just about every aspect of adult life. From men and money, to health insurance and housemates, she has been there, done that. Her podcasts will feature interviews with specialists in different fields to help her recover from the train wrecks.

Nova Entertainment received hundreds of entries, from content creators all over the country, since launching the initiative in April this year. A second series of Podquest will commence shortly to kickstart the careers of more aspiring podcasters.

Parsons entered her podcast, Confessions of a Twenty Something Train Wreck, and has won a production and marketing grant. The Queenslander will have access to Nova Entertainment’s production facilities, technical expertise and distribution channels to create a podcast series.

She will also talk about her winning entry at the Audiocraft Conference 2017 on June 10 in Sydney.

Jay Walkerden, Nova Entertainment’s head of podcasting, said: “We were impressed with the quality and diverse range of subjects that were submitted for the first ever Podquest initiative. Our internal and external judging panel, including Adam Martin, Acast’s chief content officer, and Ashley Earnshaw, chief investment officer for Carat Australia, found Phoebe presented in a humorous and engaging way while being an excellent storyteller. Confessions of a Twenty Something Train Wreck stood out as an authentic concept that had great potential to extend into a series.”