Dr. Ken Holyoke (L) is one of the hosts of the New Brunswick Archaeology Podcast, along with Dr. Gabriel Hrynick of the University of New Brunswick (R). (Photo: University of Lethbridge)

By Christian Oldale

U of L professor wins national award for archaeology podcast

Jul 22, 2024 | 12:41 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A University of Lethbridge (U of L) professor has won a national award for a podcast he co-hosts.

Dr. Ken Holyoke is one of the hosts of the New Brunswick Archaeology Podcast (NBAP), along with Dr. Gabriel Hrynick of the University of New Brunswick.

NBAP focuses on educating the public about heritage legislation, cultural resource management (CRM) and Indigenous pasts, according to the U of L. Holyoke and Hyrnick are both from New Brunswick

Holyoke and Hyrnick said, “Threats to the archaeological record from climate change and development are increasing. In response to these concerns, public archaeology is increasingly necessary as it brings archaeological research to the general public.”

The duo was recognized for their success, being awarded the 2024 Public Communications Award from the Canadian Archaeological Association.

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The first episode of the podcast was released onto Spotify in January of 2023. Holyoke recommends any listeners to skip the first episode since he and Hyrnick were nervous and more amateur, but the show has grown since then, amassing over 8,000 downloads.

Holyoke spoke on the success of the podcast, “We were fully anticipating if we could reach 10 people, that’d be 10 more than we did before. We sort of make fun of ourselves in saying that the reach of the podcast in the first season alone far exceeded the impact of any of our academic papers.”

Holoyke adds, “It’s great, it’s turned into something we really enjoy doing and we want it to continue to grow, in part because there’s quite a bit of effort that goes into it now and we’d like to be able to reach more people.”

Holoyke and Hyrnick also brought on U of L Digital Audio Arts student Emanuel Akel to do production work on the show. Akel’s addition came from an SSHRC Exchange grant the duo received.

The podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and is hosted through RSS.com

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