|
|
Columns::April 1, 2002
Kleven, head of avian medicine, is named a Regents Professor
Researcher receives $1 million grant to study stuttering in children
International symposium participants will discuss biotechnology in textiles
Food safety director will deliver annual Woodroof Lecture
Out of the woods
Driven to succeed
Human development specialist’s career is an extension of himself
New director appointed to Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies
Newsmakers
New recruitment office opens in metro Atlanta
Campus News
61st Peabody Awards
September 11 programming prominent among this year’s winners
By Eric Holder
eholder@uga.edu
In a year marked forever by the terrorist attacks on America, the 61st annual Peabody Awards acknowledged programming related to Sept. 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 Sept. 11 and to “Third Watch: In Their Own Words.” A special episode of this NBC series from John Wells Productions provided an occasion for police, fire and medical professionals to recount their personal experiences.
CNN Productions and Channel 4 International received awards for two documentaries, Beneath the Veil and Unholy War, produced by Saira Shah. Both 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 30 broadcast and cable networks.
These and other award winners chosen from more than 1,100 entries were announced March 27 by the 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 singled out the beleaguered ABC news program Nightline for an institutional award, citing its more than 20 years of outstanding 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 which 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.
Cable television was rewarded for a number of original programs. The Showtime network was cited for Things Behind the Sun, a harrowing depiction of rape and its lingering personal effects. Peabody winner A Huey P. Newton Story aired on Black Starz. HBO received 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 professor dying of cancer. Boycott focused both on the general struggles of the civil rights movement and the personal growth of Martin Luther King Jr. Conspiracy was based on the transcript of a meeting in which Nazi officials designed the “Final Solution.” A Chiesla Foundation/Cinemax production, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, provided a loving tribute to the baseball great.
In addition to the award for its Sept. 11 coverage, National Public Radio received Peabodys for Jazz Profiles and The DNA Profiles, with John Hockenberry. Another radio winner, A Murder in the Neighbourhood, comes from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Public television also received numerous Peabodys. The series American Masters was recognized for its lyrical biographical profile “F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams,” while 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.
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 children is offered in Peabody winner The Bernie Mac Show. This production for Fox television was cited by the Peabody board for transcending barriers of race and class.
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.
Among local programs recognized this year was the investigative documentary Visions of Vine Street by WCPO-TV of Cincinnati, Ohio, the station’s second Peabody in three years. Peter Rosen Productions teamed with KERA-TV of Dallas/Ft. Worth to win a Peabody for “The Cliburn: Playing on the Edge,” an exuberant account of the anxieties and pleasures experienced by young pianists in the Van Cliburn piano competition.
This year’s Peabody winners include several international productions. “WTO Challenge” was produced by Television Broadcast Limited in Hong Kong. “Endgame in Ireland,” an international co-production drawing support from sources in the United States, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia and Finland, examines the intricate realties of international peace negotiations. “Hell in the Pacific,” a Carlton Productions/Learning Channel offering for Britain’s Channel Four Television, uses World War II archival film footage. “Mzima--Haunt of the Riverhorse,” from U.K. production company Survival Anglia Ltd., provides breathtaking underwater images of a delicate African ecosystem.
“Throughout the deliberations of the board there was a strong sense that this year was special,” says Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards. “Sept. 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.”
|
|
|
|
|
