Liverpool LGBTQ+ podcast in running for a major national award

Proudly Said was launched by John Hyland in June last year, and he’s already created 40 episodes.

It’s now been shortlisted for LGBTQ+ Podcast of the Year in the highly-anticipated Gaydio Awards 2026.

Organisers of the awards praised John’s podcast for its “honest, grassroots storytelling, which centres on everyday LGBTQ+ experiences – funny, moving, challenging – rather than relying on celebrity voices.”

John, who works freelance in digital communications, says that’s exactly what he had in mind when he decided to launch Proudly Said last spring.

He explains:

“It came about because I felt like I’d lost my creative mojo. I used to have a podcast in 2016 called The Little Bird Told Me. It was mostly audio but I had a few video pieces, so because I wanted something creative to do I re-cut the videos and put them on my TikTok.

“From that I had so many people in Liverpool who said, ‘you should bring this back’, that I thought let’s go with it.

“I revisited my old content because the whole purpose of it, and something I’m now continuing with Proudly Said, is using it as a platform for stories that aren’t always told or shared, just the lives and experiences of everyday people.”

John began by contacting people he was already aware of who he knew had stories to tell, including lots of Liverpool’s drag queens.

LGBTQ+ Proudly Said Podcast The Guide Liverpool

He added:

“Then once the first few episodes went out I also had people reaching out to me saying they’d listened to it and they really wanted to talk about something. So it’s a combination and I’m always open to ideas because I’m trying to make sure I have an interesting mix of people and varying stories.”

Unlike most podcasts, Proudly Said isn’t recorded in a studio. Instead John invites guests to choose their safe space or a place that represents them and hosts the episode there.

John continued:

“I’m completely mobile, I film on my phone, I’ve got my Rode mics, and I go to wherever the guest chooses. Some of the drag queens have been in the venues they work in, because that’s their safe space, but I’ve recorded episodes in over 30 different locations.

“I have had people I’ve approached say, ‘what might you ask?’ but I don’t treat them as interviews, I treat them as conversations.

“There have been a few episodes where I’ve had in my head a direction I want to go and then I’ve got to the end and it’s not gone the way I expected at all.

“I think those natural tangents bring out the best and what people actually want to talk about; things that I probably wouldn’t have asked about that have just come out in natural conversation.”

With so many episodes already out there, John says it’s impossible to choose a favourite, but chats with Sarah Lovelock – who owns Lovelocks coffee shop that’s become a popular daytime space for queer people – and Tracy Wilder, aka DJ Silk Tray, have been among the most listened-to.

His nomination for the Gaydio Awards 2026 LGBTQ+ Podcast of the Year, puts him up against Danny Beard’s The Gossip Gays and The Pieces with Bimini.

Finals will be held in Manchester on Friday March 20, when the winners will be announced, but John says he’s just glad to have the opportunity to get his podcast out to a wider audience.

He said:

“Right now Proudly Said is a Liverpool community podcast because that’s my home, but as I grow and develop my profile as a podcaster I do want to expand across the north west and then country-wide if I can.

“I love telling stories, that’s what I’ve always done in 15 years as an LGBTQ+ advocate, and if I can get more people to hear the stories then perfect.”