They most prestigious award for excellence in broadcasting -- next to the Emmys -- were announced today. The 67th Annual Peabody Awards honored Mad Men, 30 Rock, Dexter, Project Runway, The Colbert Report -- all favorites here at TV Squad -- among others. To the Peabody Award voters, I say, "Good job." The winners, chosen by the Peabody board -- which is part of the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication -- will receive the awards on June 16 at a luncheon at New York's Waldorf Astoria. NBC News anchorman Brian Williams will be the emcee.
In addition to the winners named above, there were a variety of news reports, documentaries and alternative programming also recognized. Planet Earth, Independent Lens (for a documentary called Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life), Nature: Silence of the Bees (WNET), and Design Squad (WGBH-Boston). Sundance Channel's Nimrod Nation was chosen, as was NOVA for Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, and MTV picked up an honor for mtuU: Half of Us, a public-service campaign about depression among college students.
On the news front, ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, still recovering from his own injuries from Iraq, won for a story called Wounds of War – The Long Road Home for Our Nation's Veterans. Kimberly Dozier, who was also maimed while covering the Iraqi war, was given an award for her CBS News Sunday Morning story, The Way Home. Scott Pelley's 60 Minutes piece, The Killings in Haditha, was cited, too.
Here is the complete list of winners, including the comments from the Peabody panel. According to Horace Newcomb, Director of the Peabody Awards, whom I interviewed last year, "The Peabody has only one criterion across the board and that's excellence. I'm often asked to define that and we realize that it's a subjective judgment in every case."
Subjectively speaking, I applaud them for recognizing some great TV shows (in addition to the news and documentaries). I cannot disagree with any of the main awards; Mad Men, Dexter, 30 Rock and The Colbert Report are superbly scripted entertainment, brilliantly executed. In addition, Project Runway had perhaps its best season yet, proof that reality shows can be a cut above (ugh! -- sorry, it was too tempting).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-02-2008 @ 5:05PM
Katie said...
I have one question about the Peabody's. Are all of these shows technically just thrown into one big category of "20XX Peabody Winners", or is there some kind of categorization done by the board? Could there theoretically be one scripted show and twenty documentaries awarded on a year, or some other arbitrary combination?
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4-03-2008 @ 1:35AM
William Wallace said...
"Could there theoretically be one scripted show and twenty documentaries awarded on a year, or some other arbitrary combination?
Maybe This FAQ will help.
I recently blogged on the 2007 winners:
Judgment Day wins Peabody? Sifting through the coincidences
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4-03-2008 @ 4:03PM
Brent McKee said...
What FAQ? Sorry but the URL didn't show up in the post
4-17-2008 @ 6:51PM
Argus said...
I googled it, he hates The Office so.....
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