Penguin Random House Audio has opened the application process for the fifth session of its narrator mentorship program. The initiative, launched in 2021, aims to increase diversity and inclusion within the audiobook industry and develop new narrator talent, particularly from underrepresented groups.
The six-month mentorship program, led by producers Kelly Gildea and Amber Beard, pairs each mentee with a PRH Audio producer, who provides industry guidance and audition and performance feedback as well as assistance in developing and recording multiple demos. Applications for the January–June 2025 session are due by August 30, 2024.
Slots in the program are competitive, the publisher said; PRH Audio has accepted 73 applicants to date, marking a 1.5% average acceptance rate, from the roughly 5,000 applications the program has accumulated since its launch. Of that number, the publisher said, more than 90% of the participants from the first three sessions have been hired by audiobook publishers including PRH Audio. Highlights include mentee Minka Wiltz being cast in the audiobook version of The 1619 Project, a finalist for Audiobook of the Year at the Audio Publishers Association’s 2023 Audie Awards; Nicky Endres, another mentee, was awarded a Publishing Professional Award by Lambda Literary and Spotify in 2023.
