61st Annual George Foster Peabody Awards Announced

Posted on April 16, 2002

In a year marked forever by the terrorist attacks on America, the 61st annual Peabody Awards acknowledge programming related to September 11. The Peabody Board recognized the ABC News organizations, citing their depth and breadth of coverage on and following that day. Awards were also presented to National Public Radio for its more than 180 hours of programming related to September 11 and to "Third Watch: In Their Own Words." A special episode of this NBC series from John Wells Productions provides an occasion for police, fire and medical professionals to recount their personal experiences.

CNN Productions and Channel 4 International received an award for two documentaries, "Beneath the Veil" and "Unholy War," produced by Saira Shah. These powerful works chronicle the terror and violence in the lives of Afghan women. The board also awarded a Peabody to "America: A Tribute to Heroes," produced by Joel Gallen and simulcast by more than thirty broadcast and cable networks.

These and other award winners were chosen from more than 1,100 entries and announced by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, which has administered the Peabody Awards program since its inception in 1940. The awards will be presented at a May 20 luncheon at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York. Walter Cronkite will host this year's awards ceremony.

The Peabody Board also singled out the beleaguered ABC news program Nightline with the high honor of an institutional award, citing its more than twenty years of outstanding long-form news presentations. Institutional awards also went to WGBH, a mainstay in the world of public broadcasting, and to Youth Radio, a Bay-area organization that instructs teenagers in techniques of radio production while offering guidance in community service, critical thinking skills and self-esteem.

CBS's 60 Minutes II received a Peabody for one of the most difficult segments in the history of the series, an exploration of Bob Kerrey's actions in Vietnam. This painfully honest program presents multiple perspectives on events that took place in the village of Thanh Phong in 1969. A Peabody also went to the ABC movie Anne Frank, a production that moves far beyond previous accounts of the familiar tragic story and into the concentration camps that define memories of the Holocaust.

Cable television continued to be rewarded for an increasing number of original programs. The Showtime network was cited for Things Behind the Sun, a harrowing depiction of rape and its lingering personal effects. A Huey P. Newton Story was a Peabody winner that aired on Black Starz!. HBO will again receive multiple awards for such outstanding original programs as Band of Brothers, the powerful 10-part World War II miniseries from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and Wit, adapted from the stage play with a superb performance by Emma Thompson as an English teacher dying of cancer. Boycott captures both the generalized struggles common in the civil rights movement and the personal growth of Martin Luther King Jr. Conspiracy, based on a single surviving transcript of the meeting in which Eichmann and other Nazi officials designed the "Final Solution," fully realizes the banality of evil. A Chiesla Foundation/Cinemax production, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, provides a loving tribute to the baseball great and to the events and places he made important.

In addition to the award for its September 11 coverage, National Public Radio received Peabodys for Jazz Profiles, a program that offers as much music as commentary on this unique American musical form, and The DNA Profiles, in which John Hockenberry provides an accessible account of complex scientific information. Another radio winner, A Murder in the Neighbourhood, comes from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Public television also received numerous Peabodys. The umbrella series American Masters was recognized for its lyrical biographical profile F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams, while ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre garnered an award for Talking Heads II: Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet, a superb one-woman performance by Patricia Routledge. Davis Guggenheim's probing documentary, The First Year, focused on the efforts of novice teachers in the public school system and was also recognized by the board.

Two programs for children, Blue's Clues and the animated charmer Little Bill, were singled out for their quiet, gentle approach. Another take on life with and for children is offered in Peabody winner The Bernie Mac Show. This production for FOX television transcends barriers of race and class and offers the wise, comic musings of Bernie Mac, a contemporary Everyman who views life from a distinctive African-American perspective.

A Peabody went to an animated project that might be mistaken for children's fare; Still Life With Animated Dogs instead presents a wonderful meditation on human freedom. Also recognized was the equally inventive "My Father's Camera" from the National Film Board of Canada, which blends home movies with original production to explore the role of personal filmmaking in cinematic history.

"Throughout the deliberations of the board there was a strong sense that this year was special," said Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards. "September 11 was in our thoughts, especially when considering comedy programs, works made for children or documentaries focused on the arts. But we were constantly reminded of the many roles played by radio, television and the web -- the ways in which grief and anger can be altered by laughter and by the joy found in beautiful images and elegant ideas."

61st Annual Peabody Awards Winners

ABC News Coverage of September 11, 2001
ABC News, New York
For the network's depth and breadth of coverage of events on and subsequent to September 11, 2001

National Public Radio Coverage of September 11, 2001
National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.
For coverage of events related to September 11, 2001, that enabled audiences to mourn and reflect upon those unsettled days

CNN Presents: Beneath the Veil and Unholy War
CNN Productions (Atlanta), Channel 4 International and Hard Cash Productions
A deeply personal account of the terror and violence of repression and discrimination in Afghanistan

Third Watch: In Their Own Words
NBC, John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television
An unusual juxtaposition of reality and storytelling that captures an unforgettable moment in history when real and fictional lives came together

America: A Tribute to Heroes
Joel Gallen and the U.S. Broadcast and Cable Networks
An outpouring of honor for those lost on September 11, 2001, from the creative communities of television, film, music and theatre

Anne Frank
Touchstone Television, presented on ABC
A powerful, fully realized re-telling of a well-known tragic story that forever dramatizes the horror of the Holocaust

American Masters: F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams
Thirteen/WNET (New York), presented on PBS
For chronicling the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of America's greatest novelists, in images as lyrical and inventive as his prose

Jazz Profiles
National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.
An innovative presentation of the world of jazz, honoring the works and the great artists of this unique American musical form

The Cliburn: Playing on the Edge
Peter Rosen Productions, Inc., and KERA-TV, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas
A seamless production, presenting the exuberance and anxiety of this competition and the spectacular performances of young pianists

Mzima - Haunt of the Riverhorse
Survival Anglia LTD, U.K.
A stunning documentary filmed in the underwater realm of the hippopotamus and crocodile to portray the dynamics of a delicate African ecosystem

ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: Talking Heads II: Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet
Slow Motion Ltd. production for the BBC, presented on PBS
A poignant performance of the richly complicated life of a middle-aged, middle-class Englishwoman

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
The Chiesla Foundation and Cinemax
A life, a game, a time and a place - all captured in this loving tribute to one of baseball's greats

Still Life with Animated Dogs
Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Paul & Sandra Fierlinger, AR&T Associates, Inc.
A visually delightful animated documentary that becomes a metaphor for the human spirit

The DNA Files
SoundVision Productions, presented on National Public Radio
A vivid, accessible radio series explaining the intricate building blocks of genetic science

Visions of Vine Street
WCPO-TV, Cincinnati, Ohio
A model investigative documentary from a local television news organization that informs its citizens and contributes to improved life in its community

A Murder in the Neighbourhood
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
An intimate radio documentary that records intense human responses to harrowing events in a Toronto suburb

WTO Challenge
Television Broadcast Limited, Hong Kong, SAR, People's Republic of China
An impressive documentary examining the personal, social and economic implications of China's growing involvement in world affairs

Endgame in Ireland
Brook Lapping Productions for BBC2 in association with WGBH/Boston, RTE (Ireland), La Sept ARTE (France and Germany), SBS (Australia) and YLE (Finland)
An extended exploration of the realities of international peace negotiations

A Huey P. Newton Story 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, Luna Ray Films, BLACK STARZ!, PBS and African Heritage Network
A mesmerizing portrait of the complex co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense that captures the turbulence of the 1960s

Hell in the Pacific
A Carlton Production in association with The Learning Channel for Channel Four Television
A forceful analysis of the savagery of World War II in the Pacific and a reminder of the terror and horror of war in any place, at any time

Conspiracy
HBO Films produced in association with the British Broadcasting Corporation
A chilling tour de force based on the actual transcript of the meeting in which the Nazi "Final Solution" was designed

Things Behind the Sun
Showtime, An Echo Lake Productions/Sidekick Entertainment Production
A searing exploration of rape and its never-ending consequences, based on the experiences of the filmmaker

Boycott
Norman Twain Productions with Shelby Stone Productions in association with HBO Films
A marvelous portrayal of pivotal events in the civil rights movement and in the lives of people at its center

The First Year
Teachers Documentary Project, presented on PBS
A passionate record of the trials, triumphs, and tribulations of five novice teachers, educating its viewers to life on the front lines of contemporary public education

My Father's Camera
National Film Board of Canada
Old pictures blend with new in this loving tribute to family, memory and the Super 8mm cameras that recorded them

Youth Radio
Berkeley, Calif.
For activities enabling thousands of teenagers to express their views, to experience civic engagement and to develop critical thinking skills, teamwork and self-esteem

Little Bill
Nickelodeon
A wonderful children's program demonstrating that television can be quiet, gentle and caring at every moment, with any subject, for all people

Blue's Clues
Nickelodeon
A "play-along, think-along" animated series for pre-schoolers that continues year in and year out to respect its very special audience

WGBH
Boston, Mass.
An example of the best in public television, this preeminent organization has served its community, the nation and the world with outstanding productions and collaborations

60 Minutes II: Memories of a Massacre CBS News, New York
A painful and honest examination of actions in the village of Thanh Phong, Vietnam, in February 1969; of the responsibilities of a young officer; and of two dramatically different accounts of the events

Wit
Avenue Pictures in association with HBO Films An unforgettable drama in which a woman faces her own mortality with frankness, dignity and humor

The Bernie Mac Show
Wilmore Films, Regency Television and 20th Century Fox
This comedic, contemporary Everyman transcends race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion-and cool

Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers Ltd. on behalf of DreamWorks and Playtone, presented on HBO
A stunning ten-part miniseries dedicated to those who took up arms to defend ideas and ideals and those who fought by their side, their brothers

Nightline
ABC News, New York
A truly remarkable television institution demonstrating the medium's capacity to serve a vital social function, offering the best in long-form news programming for more than 20 years