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Columns::January 27, 2003
A fitting memorial: Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences
Biology symposium focuses on plant, animal interactions
Honors student and Foundation Fellow wins fellowship
UGA delegation begins project planning and Tunisian leaders
Australian filmmaker visits Grady College
Three win staff award in Warnell School of Forest Resources
Campus Closeup
Director of community relations named
Kudos
New directions: Office of Institutional Research and Planning prepares for change
Students offer ideas for new Lamar Dodd School of Art
Campus News
Treasure hunt
Peabody program begins annual review process
By Eric S. Holder
eholder@uga.edu
On Jan. 13 at the Tate Student Center, UGA alumna and newly appointed Peabody Board chairwoman Betty Hudson addressed
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| Betty Hudson, chair of the Peabody Board, addressed judging committees at the opening meeting earlier this month. (Photo by Peter Frey) |
members of the Peabody review committees during the kickoff luncheon for the 62nd Peabody Awards. More than a thousand entries are expected this year from producing organizations around the world that are hoping to win the most coveted and prestigious prize in electronic media.
“The entire industry takes pause and gives enormous notice to our winners,” Hudson reminded the more than 75 UGA faculty, staff and students whose recommendations she called “crucial to the work the Peabody Board does.” She counseled the committees to “focus on programs that are original and thought-provoking, non-derivative works.”
Horace Newcomb, director of the awards program, encouraged committee members to “enjoy a deliberative discussion and focus on what you think constitutes excellence in electronic media.”
Each committee reviews 25-40 items, which may include television, radio or Web-based programs.
“I like the variety of material that I watch,” said Fran Teague, a Peabody committee veteran and professor of Renaissance drama in the English department. “I really like the discussions with other committee members, and on a purely selfish level I appreciate the way that watching a television program analytically can sometimes spark ideas about my own discipline.”
“The most distinctive aspects of the Peabody Awards are that there are no nominating procedures or awards categories,” said Newcomb. “Entries are judged solely on the criterion of excellence.”
“Part of the reason why the Peabody Awards are so important is the judging process,” Hudson said. “It is the most thoughtful and non-political process I know of--where the goal is to arrive at a consensus and determine what constitutes the best in the business. We are looking for as few as 30 gems to call Peabodys.”
It is the search for these jewels hidden among the entries that makes the process satisfying for committee volunteers.
“The Peabody Awards have been a rewarding activity for me personally,” said Sheila Devaney, a media studies specialist with the UGA Libraries and a three-year veteran of the judging committees. “I like that these awards are presented for merit to society and not for popularity. Of course, being introduced to Dan Rather at the ceremony last year and having my introduction to him start with ‘Ms. Devaney worked on the 9/11 coverage’ was also a huge highlight of last year’s process for me.”
By the time their work is done, committees have usually selected only a few entries to recommend to the board. Committees include written commentary outlining the strengths of each selection. They also supply a brief “one-liner” report for items not recommended.
Copies of recommended programs are sent to the homes of Peabody board members for viewing and listening prior to regional deliberations. Each board member also receives copies of all the official entry forms and is encouraged to identify programs for further consideration. This year board members will gather for preliminary regional screenings at Stanford University and at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
The plenary session will be held on campus at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education from March 26 to March 30. The board, the sole determinant of the number of awards and to whom they are given, will spend the week narrowing down and refining the list of contenders. The maximum number of awards ever given in a single year was 36.
Winners of the 62nd Annual Peabody Awards will be announced April 2, live via satellite from the studios of Georgia Public Television in Atlanta, in conjunction with a special Grady College alumni event. The awards luncheon will be held May 19 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
Walter Cronkite, two-time Peabody winner, summed up the standing of the Peabody Awards in his remarks as host of the 2002 awards luncheon. “We in the broadcasting industry rarely refer to the Peabodys as ‘broadcasting’s Pulitzer Prize,’ ” he said. “Oh, no--it’s clear to us that the vaunted Pulitzers are simply print’s Peabody.”
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