REDACTED WINS SILVER AND LISTENER’S CHOICE FOR SCRIPTED FICTION AT THE 5TH ANNUAL SIGNAL AWARDS, HONORING THE RISK TAKERS SHAPING PODCASTING

Plano, TX, October 20, 2026 – REDACTED, the horror comedy audio drama from Hush Studios on the Rusty Quill Network, has been named the Silver winner and the Listener’s Choice winner for Scripted Fiction in the Shows division of the 5th Annual Signal Awards. This year’s program honors podcasts that take creative risks: work that breaks format, takes on hard subjects or finds a new way to reach listeners.

Created by Johnathan “Athan” Magno and Jamie Petronis, REDACTED follows Jacob Kane, a failing actor who assumes the identity of his late twin and lands inside The REDACTED Unit, an underfunded secret government agency that contains impossible creatures it calls Aberrations. The series paired a monster-of-the-week format with a serialized mystery, was funded on Kickstarter at 313% of its goal by more than 400 backers, and is approaching 2 million plays in its first year.

“The whole team loves 90s-2000s procedural television, and being able to integrate this style into an audio format has been incredible. To be chosen by the Judging Academy, and then by listeners, means the absolute world to us, and we’re grateful to everyone who came along on this journey with us,” said Athan, Co-Creator and Head of Studio at Hush Studios.

Winners are selected by the Signal Awards Judging Academy, an esteemed collective made up of the architects, instigators and trailblazers of the medium. Featured Academy Members this year include Shayne Topp, Host, Smosh Reads Reddit Stories; Dan Roth, Editor in Chief and Vice President, LinkedIn; Crissle West, Co-Host, The Read; Asma Khalid, Co-Host, BBC World’s The Global Story; Bobby Finger, Host, Who? Weekly; Graham Litten, Podcast Partnerships, YouTube; Stephanie Kuo, Vice President of Content, PRX; and many more. A complete directory of the judges can be found here.

“Podcasting is no longer defined by a single format, platform or approach to storytelling, and this year’s submissions make that evolution impossible to ignore,” said Jemma Brown, GM of The Signal Awards. “Charts and download counts can only tell us what’s popular. At Signal, our role is to notice the creative risks that are quietly changing what everyone else makes next. This year’s Winners offer a first look at podcasting’s next chapter.”

Each year, The Signal Awards present Gold, Silver and Bronze honors, and the listening public votes for their favorite Finalists to receive the Listener’s Choice Award in each category. In 2026, Listener’s Choice voting drew over 260,000 votes from 94,000 listeners.

About REDACTED

REDACTED is a horror comedy audio drama produced by Hush Studios and released on the Rusty Quill network. The show follows Jacob Kane, a struggling actor who, desperate for a fresh start, assumes the identity of his deceased twin, Jordan. Expecting a simple accounting job, he instead finds himself accidentally inside an underfunded secret government agency called The REDACTED Unit, tasked with discreetly handling bizarre and often dangerous paranormal cases. As Jacob settles into his role, he begins to unravel the unsettling truths around his brother’s death. What begins as an act of reinvention slowly becomes a descent into a web of paranormal forces, secret agendas, and moral compromise. REDACTED is a multi-season, monster-of-the-week series: each episode is a self-contained case.

The cast includes Jamie Petronis, Athan, Ishani Kanetkar, Kirsten Ria, Devin Steffens, Joe Cliff Thompson, Ash Millman, Nichole Goodnight, Lev Rodriguez Shivers, David Ault, Anusia Battersby, Billie Hindle, Rebecca Hansson, Thomas Barker, Harlan Guthrie and Zoe D Lee. The full cast is at theredactedunit.com/cast. In 2026 the series also won at the Swedish International Film Festival, Film 25 ArtFF, the AREA51 Underground Film Contest, Darkland and YETI Filmfest.

Listen: theredactedunit.com/where · Spotify · Apple Podcasts · YouTube

Press kit, logos and images: theredactedunit.com/press · theredactedunit.com/assets

About The Signal Awards

The Signal Awards recognizes the podcasts that define culture. The awards body is mission-focused on uplifting the podcast medium by recognizing the most potent, meaningful and unprecedented audio projects being made today as decided by The Signal Awards Judging Academy.