Hannah Berner and Giggly Squad Grab Podcast of the Year at the 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards
hannah berner and co-host Paige DeSorbo scored the night’s top honor when their podcast Giggly Squad won Podcast of the Year at the 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards. The win was announced Monday night at SXSW, putting the duo at the center of the ceremony’s biggest headline. The award came after Giggly Squad beat out other finalists including Good Hang With Amy Poehler, Call Her Daddy, and The Daily.
Top prize goes to Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo at SXSW
The Podcast of the Year trophy went to Giggly Squad, hosted by Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo, both identified as coming from Bravo’s Summer House. The ceremony took place Monday night at SXSW, where the pair’s show emerged as the overall winner from a competitive field of major podcast titles.
Other category results were also announced during the ceremony. Good Hang With Amy Poehler won Best Comedy Podcast, while Wisecrack won Best Crime Podcast. The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett received Best Business and Finance Podcast, and Watch What Crappens won Best TV & Film.
Inside the ceremony: host, presenters, and major awards
The 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards were hosted by Ego Nwodim. The guest and presenter lineup included Will Ferrell, Clayton Echard, Eric Andre, Iliza Shlesinger, Jennie Garth, Jonathan Goldstein, Juju Green, Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Hardstark, Lele Pons, and Rider Strong.
Additional honors were handed out beyond the competitive podcast categories. iHeartMedia presented the 2026 Social Impact Award to On Purpose with Jay Shetty for conversations around mental health. Terry Gross, host of NPR’s Fresh Air, received the 2026 Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Hrishikesh Hirway, creator of the podcast Song Exploder, received the 2026 Innovator Award.
What the win means right now for Giggly Squad
With Podcast of the Year now secured, Giggly Squad leaves SXSW with the ceremony’s highest-profile prize and a clear momentum boost coming out of Monday night’s results. The awards also underscored the breadth of the podcast field, with separate honors going to comedy, crime, business and finance, and TV & film categories.
In the same snapshot of current activity around the hosts, DeSorbo has remained busy since leaving Summer House, including hosting a red carpet pre-show on Netflix on February 20, writing a New York Times bestseller, going on a Giggly Squad tour, and launching a sleepwear and loungewear line called Daphne. Hannah Berner, after leaving Summer House in Season 5, launched a stand-up career, released a Netflix special in 2024, and married fellow comedian Des Bishop in 2022.
For now, the immediate headline stays fixed on one result: hannah berner and Paige DeSorbo’s Giggly Squad are the 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards Podcast of the Year winners, a finish that capped Monday night’s ceremony at SXSW.
