Veterinary Vertex wins Gold EPIC Award for podcast excellence
Bottom line
Veterinary Vertex, the American Veterinary Medical Association’s weekly podcast tied to JAVMA and AJVR, has earned Gold in the 2026 EPIC Awards’ Excellence in Podcast category. The award was announced May 28 at the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s 48th Annual Meeting in Chula Vista, California. The EPIC Awards recognize excellence in publishing, information technology, and communications, and Veterinary Vertex was listed as the Gold winner for podcasting by both SSP coverage and industry reporting. The show positions itself as a behind-the-scenes look at clinical and research discoveries published in JAVMA and AJVR, with Sarah Wright, DVM, and Lisa Fortier, DVM, PhD, among its co-hosts. (stm-publishing.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the recognition signals that journal-linked audio is becoming a more credible channel for translating research into practice. Veterinary Vertex is built around peer-reviewed studies from AVMA journals and aims to turn published findings into practical, accessible conversations, which may help busy clinicians, trainees, and educators keep up with new evidence in a format that fits clinical workflows better than traditional reading alone. The award also reflects a broader shift in scholarly publishing toward multimedia engagement with authors and audiences, not just static journal content. (veterinaryvertex.buzzsprout.com)
What to watch: Watch for AVMA Journals to keep expanding podcast-driven author engagement and research translation after this national publishing award. (veterinaryvertex.buzzsprout.com)
Veterinary Vertex, the AVMA Journals podcast, has won Gold in the 2026 EPIC Awards for Excellence in Podcast, giving the veterinary publishing brand a national win in a competition run by the Society for Scholarly Publishing. The award was announced May 28 during SSP’s 48th Annual Meeting in Chula Vista, California, where Veterinary Vertex was named the top entry in its category over other finalists. (stm-publishing.com)
The recognition lands at a moment when scientific and professional publishers are putting more weight on formats that can extend the reach of research beyond the printed page. SSP says the EPIC Awards are designed to honor creativity, collaboration, and innovation across scholarly publishing, with categories spanning journals, marketing, tools, and media. In that context, a veterinary podcast winning Gold suggests that author-centered audio is no longer a side project, but part of how research organizations are expected to communicate impact and relevance. (stm-publishing.com)
Veterinary Vertex describes itself as a weekly podcast covering the latest clinical and research discoveries published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Journal of Veterinary Research. Its pitch is practical: take peer-reviewed studies, bring in expert voices, and translate findings into something clinicians can use. Recent episodes have covered topics ranging from nutrition communication and sentinel node mapping in dogs to chronic laminitis and publishing advice for veterinarians, underscoring that the show is serving both clinical and professional-development audiences. (veterinaryvertex.buzzsprout.com)
There’s also a direct author-voice angle behind the award. In a June 18 reflection on the SSP meeting, Sarah Wright of the American Veterinary Medical Association called the EPIC recognition “exciting and affirming,” writing that it highlighted “the value of creative approaches to engaging audiences with scientific and scholarly content.” Wright is listed as an associate editor for JAVMA and AJVR and is also identified on the podcast site as a co-host, linking the editorial and audience-engagement sides of the project. (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)
Industry reporting on the awards reinforces that this was not a veterinary-specific honor, but a broader scholarly publishing award. STM Publishing News’ winner roundup lists Veterinary Vertex as the Gold winner in the podcast category, alongside winners from major academic and professional publishing organizations in other media and product categories. That matters because it places AVMA’s podcast strategy in direct comparison with wider publishing efforts, not just within veterinary medicine. (stm-publishing.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the bigger takeaway is less about the trophy and more about the communication model. Research translation remains a persistent challenge in practice, especially when clinicians are balancing caseload, staffing pressure, continuing education demands, and information overload. A journal-connected podcast can shorten the distance between publication and application by letting authors and editors frame why a paper matters, what its limitations are, and how it may affect decision-making in practice, teaching, or residency training. Inference: the Gold award suggests this model is resonating not only with veterinary audiences, but also with publishing professionals who judge effectiveness in scholarly communication. (veterinaryvertex.buzzsprout.com)
The workforce and education angle is important, too. Veterinary medicine has been looking for more flexible ways to support lifelong learning, especially for early-career veterinarians and teams who may not consistently engage with full journal issues. Audio won’t replace reading the paper, but it can widen the top of the funnel by helping listeners decide which studies deserve a closer look. That could be especially useful for specialists, interns, residents, and general practitioners trying to stay connected to emerging evidence without adding another rigid task to the day. This is an inference based on the podcast’s stated mission and format. (veterinaryvertex.buzzsprout.com)
What to watch: The next question is whether AVMA builds on the EPIC win with more author interviews, stronger journal-to-podcast integration, or broader educational tie-ins. SSP has already said it plans to open submissions for the 2027 EPIC Awards in late 2026, so the veterinary publishing space will have another chance to show whether multimedia research communication is becoming a durable part of how the profession learns. (stm-publishing.com)