The Podcast Peer Awards Sampler Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/podcastpeerawards

The PPA Sampler contains shows that have been nominated for a Podcast Peer Award. PPA members use this has a handy way to listen to nominated shows. Other folks use it as a quick way to discover a wide variety of high quality shows.

This feed also occasinaly contains promos and bumpers podcasters can use to promote the PPA.

Please note that some of these shows may contain explicit content. They will be identified with the iTunes explicit tag.

Adding Your Show To The Sampler

If your show has a score of +3 or more, you're encouraged to submit a recent episode to be included in the Sampler.

You'll submit XML code that points to one episode. You have three options:

A. Your XML code may point to one unmodified episode.

B. Your code may point to an episode that starts with an extra intro identifying it as a PPA Nominee. Something like, "This is a sample of the XYZ podcast, which has been nominated in the Alphabet category of the Podcast Peer Awards." This is highly recommended. You may also add an outro encouraging people to vote for you, and directing them to podcastpeers.org.

C. You may create a "best of" digest of one of your shows, starting with an intro that explains what you're doing. This should be a 10-15 minute sampler of one episode. Please note that some judges prefer this option.

If your show contains explicit content you must choose option B or C, and your intro must contain an appropriate warning. You must also include an iTunes explicit tag

If your show is more than 45 minutes long you must use option C.

Once the finalists are announced, only finalists shows will be added to the feed.

Submitting Your XML Information

Submit the XML information for your show by e-mail. Send it to Dave Hitt at hittman@davehitt.com, with the subject line: "PPA Sampler - <Show Name>"

Send only the XML for one episode. It will look something like this:

<item>
<title>Quick Hitts - A Little Dab Will Do Ya</title>
<link>http://www.davehitt.com/podcasts/QH_A_Little_Dab.mp3</link>
<guid>http://www.davehitt.com/podcasts/QH_A_Little_Dab.mp3</guid>
<description>Is it possible that a little toxin and a little radiation are good for you?</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<author>hittman@davehitt.com (Dave Hitt)</author>
<enclosure url="http://www.davehitt.com/podcasts/QH_A_Little_Dab.mp3" length="10200000" type="audio/mpeg"/>
</item>

You may also include any valid iTunes tags.

The Title field field must start with the name of your show, followed by the episode title.

The author field should contain your e-mail address, followed by your name in parentheses. If you leave your name out the feed will still validate, but the validate will report a non-fatal error.

The description should be short and pithy. The best descriptions are teasers which entice listeners to download the show. Descriptions containing HTML code won't validate.

Note the format of the date field. The month must be three letters, and the day of the week must be correct. This is the most common error in the code we receive.

Shows with explicit content must include an iTunes explicit tag, and must warn users at the beginning that it contains explicit content.

All audio shows must be in the MP3 format and the MP3 file must contain valid MP3 Tags. Without them listeners will be filling their MP3 players with unidentifiable files. At a minimum your MP3 tags should include Title, Artist, Album, and Genre. The Genre should be "Podcast" or "PPA Sampler."

Your entry must validate to be included in the feed. We use this validator, so please check your code before submitting it.

Note: we will not be hosting your files. The feed will download the files directly from your host.

The current feed is for audio only. We'll add a video feed as soon as enough video podcasts are submitted. When submitting video podcasts please add the word "Video" to the subject line of your e-mail.