Viking-themed podcast up for two awards

It started during the Covid lockdown, and now a series of podcasts created by two of JORVIK Viking Centre’s digital engagement team is up for two prestigious podcasts awards.

That JORVIK Viking Thing Podcast takes a fun view of history, telling York’s stories to an international audience.

The podcast was the idea of Miranda Schmeiderer, who was one of JORVIK’s duty managers.  The pilot episode was created in November 2020, with an initial series created to launch during That JORVIK Viking Thing, the online Viking festival created to keep people entertained whilst locked in their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This was our first foray into creating podcasts, and there was a big learning curve in terms of learning about the recording and editing process,” explains Miranda.  “We were able to secure some funding to purchase professional kit – microphones and recording software – as part of a wider digital project, and this gave us a real kick start.”

The podcast series is currently heading for its 70th episode, and has received over 60,000 downloads from audiences all over the globe.  The show is co-hosted by Miranda and Lucas Norton, who researches many of the themes behind the podcasts, which range from exploring sagas to looking at the evidence for LGBTQ+ issues in stories and historical records.

“The podcast format gives us the possibility to explore Viking culture beyond anything we can do within the attraction or even as part of the Festival,” adds Lucas.  “We’ve had some amazing guests, from internationally-renowned academics to our friends and fellow podcasters The Silly History Boys, diverting for Halloween to include ghost stories, looking at romance around Valentine’s Day, and sometimes even picking up different periods in history – though the Viking-age is definitely a favourite amongst our listeners.”

That JORVIK Viking Thing Podcast is up for awards in the Podcast Awards – People’s Choice category (vote here), and the British Podcast Awards – Listeners’ Choice. (vote here).

All episodes of That JORVIK Viking Thing Podcast are available for listening at jorvikthing.com/podcasts  and are also available on Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast.