Podcast edited by Sound Tech student wins national award

Sound Technology student Hayden Morris says he feels “immense pride” in being part of the team that beat The Times, The Economist, and Bloomberg to win a major prize at this year’s British Podcast Awards.

Hayden, who’s in his third-year, is sound editor on Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow – which was named Best Business Podcast at the ceremony on 2 October at the 02 in London.

Hayden started working on the podcast in his second year at LIPA after being approached by entrepreneur and podcaster Becca Pountney. He also works with Liverpool post-production company LA Productions.

We caught up with Hayden to discuss the win, LIPA’s alumni network and industry links.

How did you feel when Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow was named as winner of the Best Business Podcast?

It was staggering. We were all amazed and we certainly didn’t expect it. We were up against The Times, Bloomberg, The Economist – podcasts with six-figure budgets and whole sound teams. We just went for a day out! But we spoke to the one of the judges afterwards and they told us that we nailed every single criteria.

I just have a feeling of immense pride that I have worked on that podcast for a year. Knowing I can compete with the sound of these other huge companies is an amazing feeling.

Image: Hayden (second from the right) with Becca Pountney (centre) and content creator, Simona Belchave (second from left)

How useful were the skills you learnt in your first-year to being able to do this job?

The foundational work I did at LIPA in my first year is directly applicable to what I do now and has helped to get me to this point. But it’s not just the technical skills, it’s also the soft skills. We've done sessions on how to work as a professional and because we’re constantly talking to our lecturers who are experienced professionals, we know how to communicate with clients, how to behave, how to act, and the importance of being courteous. This gets reinforced when you’re working with people on different courses – musicians, actors, designers, and filmmakers. You simply learn how to work with people - I don’t think I would have had that if I hadn’t attended LIPA.

How important are LIPA’s industry links?

Industry links at LIPA are massive. Every year LIPA graduates come back for a conference (See Me Now) and discuss their career paths and the industry. That event was instrumental in me getting work at LA Productions. After the conference I was chatting to a graduate, and they helped me to get work experience at the BBC. While I was there, I met another LIPA grad who’s a re-recording mixer and this led to me gaining experience at Dock10 TV production facilities, which in turn led me to LA Productions, and working with yet another grad! In November I’ll be working on a BBC production with LA Productions and that would never have happened without LIPA’s industry links.

You graduate in July 2026 – what are your ambitions?

My ambition is to continue learning! I love dialogue editing and want to continue building up a portfolio of credits in TV, film, and maybe even games. I want to keep networking and meeting great people and ultimately, I’d love to end up mixing for HETV (high-end television).

Find out more about our Sound Technology course

Find out more about the Wedding Pros Who Are Ready To Grow podcast