- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Comment
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Tumblr
Norman Lear, Beyonce's Lemonade, Donald Glover's Atlanta, the Julia Louis-Dreyfus starrer Veep and documentaries O.J.: Made in America and 13th are among the winners for this year's Peabody Awards.
The honorees for the 76th annual awards, selected by a board of jurors including The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-at-Large Kim Masters, were revealed in a series of announcements and also include Better Things, Horace and Pete and news reports from CBS, CNN and NPR.
The winners consist of two individual and institutional honorees (Lear and the Independent Television Service); 12 documentary winners (including O.J. and 13th); seven entertainment winners (Lemonade, Atlanta, Veep, Better Things, Horace and Pete, Happy Valley, National Treasure) and 11 honorees in the categories of news, public service, radio/podcast and web (including the CBS, CNN and NPR winners).
The Peabody Award winners will be celebrated at a May 20 gala in New York, hosted by Rashida Jones, which will be taped for a TV special to air on PBS and Fusion on June 2 at 9 p.m. ET. The awards are based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
A complete list of winners announced so far, along with the Peabody jurors' description of each, follows.
Related Stories
April 20, 8 a.m. Entertainment winners added.
April 25, 8 a.m. Updated with news, public service, radio/podcast and web winners.
-
Entertainment Programming Winners
Atlanta
FX Productions (FX Networks)
Donald Glover’s enchanting series on the struggles of two young black men trying to make it in Atlanta’s rap scene blends vibrant character study and rich socio-political commentary in delivering a detailed and textured exploration of a Southern city.Better Things
FX Productions (FX Networks)
Co-created by Pamela Adlon and Louis C.K., the result of this searingly funny and beautiful show is an at-times raw examination of the vicissitudes of working motherhood, crackling with feminist verve and energy, that consistently cuts new ground.Happy Valley
BBC One (BBC One, Netflix)
A fresh take on the British crime drama that deals boldly and unflinchingly with the darkest human behavior while keeping its heart and even a tart sense of humor. Series creator Sally Wainwright has given us perhaps the greatest female lead on television today in Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire in a stunning performance.Horace and Pete
Pig Newton, Inc. (louisck.net)
A true original that melds contemporary politics and serialized storytelling with a throwback approach, Horace and Pete is a truly independent and groundbreaking demonstration of how quality television is expertly produced for the new media environment, all the while building upon decades of artistry and craft.Lemonade
HBO Entertainment in association with Parkwood Entertainment (HBO)
Lemonade draws from the prolific literary, musical, cinematic, and aesthetic sensibilities of black cultural producers to create a rich tapestry of poetic innovation.The audacity of its reach and fierceness of its vision challenges our cultural imagination, while crafting a stunning and sublime masterpiece about the lives of women of color and the bonds of friendship seldom seen or heard in American popular culture.National Treasure
The Forge (Channel 4)
A dark and timely examination of sexual abuse at the hands of privileged celebrity, National Treasure is an engrossing series that explores the loyalty of family and friends during crisis, the impact of sexual abuse on victims, and the legal system itself. As in real life, there’s no neat ending in this dramatic rendering of one man’s choices and the collateral damage he creates.Veep
HBO Entertainment (HBO)
A rare show blessed with a perfectly cast ensemble, including the comedic genius of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep is a workplace comedy that not only captures the zeitgeist of the current bizarre political moment but transcends its own form to deliver a sobering message, with sharp dialogue, street savvy — and lots of laughs. -
Documentary Winners
Audrie & Daisy
AfterImage Public Media in association with Actual Films (Netflix)
Filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk present a heartbreaking and timely tale of how social media shaming enacts a secondary and sometimes even more impactful traumatization of teen rape victims.4.1 Miles
The New York Times Op-Docs (NYTimes.com)
Desperate journeys undertaken by refugees risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean and find safe haven in Europe is well-documented. Daphne Matziaraki’s short film differs in its point-of-view and raw imagery of one Greek boat captain thrust into the breach.Frontline: Confronting ISIS
Frontline (PBS/WGBH)
Veteran correspondent Martin Smith’s deliberate reporting provides context to America’s ongoing war against Islamist extremists in this essential primer on the origins and timeline of the conflict. “Confronting ISIS” clearly articulates the political complexities behind the rise of the terrorist group, their strategies in recruitment and tactics, and America’s diplomatic missteps and heightened challenges.Frontline: Exodus
Frontline (PBS/WGBH)
An intimate take on the refugee and migrant crisis distinguished by its specificity of the people it follows. James Bluemel eschews the need to render his subjects pathetic, instead showing their humanity and their attempts to keep this humanity in the face of their journey.Hip-Hop Evolution
Banger Films (Netflix, HBO Canada)
An entertaining, consummate history of hip-hop music told in a series of interviews with influential MCs, DJs, and moguls who were there at the beginning of the genre’s birth and through its dynamic evolution.Independent Lens: Trapped
Trilogy Films LLC, Bigmouth Productions, Cedar Creek Productions and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) (PBS)
A timely report that examines the motivation and politics surrounding “TRAP” laws, specifically designed to restrict access to abortion. Director Dawn Porter goes behind-the-scenes to follow the people working on a daily basis to keep clinics open under challenging circumstances.Mavis!
Film First and HBO Documentary Films (HBO)
More than just a biopic, this story celebrates the deep influence of Mavis Staples and the Staple Singers across music genres—from gospel to soul and rock-and-roll. Mavis! illustrates the history of social movements in America and is a powerful reminder of one woman’s impact on popular culture.O.J.: Made in America
ESPN Films and Laylow Films (ESPN)
Ezra Edelman takes a story we all think we know—the rise and fall of Orenthal James Simpson—and adds successive layers of context and depth until ultimately it becomes a masterful examination of American culture, race, celebrity, masculinity, and criminality.POV: Hooligan Sparrow
POV | American Documentary (PBS)
First-time filmmaker Nanfu Wang takes personal risks to follow the story of Ye Haiyan, aka “Hooligan Sparrow,” and a small group of women’s rights activists protesting the state of sexual assault crises in schools in China.Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four
Deborah S. Esquenazi Productions, LLC (Investigation Discovery)
A modern tale of colonial-style persecution follows four Latina lesbians wrongfully accused of sexual assault in the mid-1990s. Picking up a decade after conviction, the film chronicles their struggles as homosexual women of color in their conservative Texas community and their battle for eventual exoneration.13th
Forward Movement LLC and Kandoo Films (Netflix)
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay deconstructs the criminalization of African-Americans—from racial slavery to convict leasing systems, from Jim Crow terror to mass incarceration—as a means of exercising social control of black populations.Zero Days
Magnolia Pictures and Participant Media, in association with Showtime Documentary Films, Global Produce/Jigsaw Productions (Showtime)
Alex Gibney sheds light on the dark world of cyber warfare and its threat to global peace in this suspenseful story mapping how cybersecurity experts discovered the computer worm known as Stuxnet. The documentary is a call-to-action for countries and citizens to address the issue of cyberattacks and to start public discourse on what could happen if, and when, diplomacy fails. -
Individual and Institutional Winners
Individual Winner: Norman Lear
Norman Lear changed the face of television — and the faces. He revolutionized and democratized a traditionally timid, overwhelmingly white-bread medium with a collection of recognizable, risible characters whose racial and gender diversity was as unprecedented as their biases and brash opinions. From All in the Family and Sanford and Son to Maude, Good Times and The Jeffersons, all the Lear hits shared, to one degree or another, a grounding in the real, polarized America we all knew, not some fantasy nation crawling with dreamy genies, twitchy witches and friendly Martians. In Lear’s watershed shows of the ’70s, no topic was too touchy to tackle — not racial discrimination, not sexism, not homosexuality, not abortion, not even rape. Better than anyone working in television, Lear has created an influential body of work that politicized the personal, personalized the political, and showed us ourselves in all our ridiculousness and nobility.Institutional Winner: Independent Television Service (ITVS)
If any organization can claim a foundational place in the flourishing of documentary film over the past generation, it is the Independent Television Service (ITVS). Conceived by independent filmmakers who saw a paucity of diversity in public media, ITVS was formed by Congress in 1988. Since then ITVS has had a broad transformative impact on the media landscape, particularly in public media. With more than 1,400 films funded and a staggering 32 Peabody Awards, ITVS’ output represents an accomplished range of work as rich as any broadcaster or funder. Landmark films within the Peabody canon include: How to Survive a Plague by David France; Marco Williams and Whitney Dow’s Two Towns of Jasper; Leslee Udwin’s India’s Daughter and The Invisible War by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering. -
News Winners
“Arrested at School: Criminalizing Classroom Misbehavior”
KNTV Bay Area (NBC)
A rigorous examination into local school districts relying on police as a means of student discipline reveals an alarming overreach by law enforcement. The result for many students—mostly minority populations—is juvenile citations that become permanent criminal records. Tenacious reporting contributes to the larger conversation about rebuilding trust between police and their communities.
“Charity Caught on Camera”
WTHR-TV Indianapolis (NBC)
In a fine example of the impact investigative journalism can have on communities, reporters uncover layers of mismanagement and corruption at a local nonprofit, including catching the charity’s pastor stealing donated goods for his own use. Further probing eventually led to the resignations of top leadership, prompting a separate investigation by the state’s attorney general.
“ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” “Undercover in Syria,” “Battle for Mosul”
CNN
These three packages from CNN’s seasoned war correspondents feature outstanding, on-the-ground reporting from the Middle East. Graphic images of the wounded and the bloodied bring the senselessness of the fighting to the foreground, as do haunting images of young children who’ve only seen and experienced a world of airstrikes, fear, pain, and loss.
“Dangerous Exposure”
WTHR-TV Indianapolis (NBC)
This excellent local investigative journalism piece uses diligent reporting and creative visuals to tell the story of how one Indiana watchdog agency failed to do its job. A voluntary remediation program allowed companies to shirk their duties to clean up sites leaking poison into groundwater in residential areas. The investigation exposed decades of lax oversight and served as a catalyst for change within the agency.
“Heart of an Epidemic, West Virginia’s Opioid Addiction”
The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley (CBS)
As opioid addiction continues to eat away and destroy largely working class communities across the country, CBS reporter Jim Axelrod ventured to West Virginia, investigating shady “pill mills” and doctors interested more in profit than healing to reveal culpability and collusion of both government and industry. -
Public Service Winners
"#MoreThanMean – Women in Sports 'Face' Harassment"
Just Not Sports & One Tree Forest Films (YouTube/Twitter/Facebook)
A moving attack on misogynistic troll culture, this short video’s simple message about civility online painfully conveys the damage of vicious tweets. #MoreThanMean is an extremely powerful four minutes that encourages both an end to silence around abuse of women in sports journalism and a reflection on the toxic treatment of women online in general. -
Radio/Podcast Winners
"In The Dark"
APM Reports
An examination of a 27-year-old cold case in central Minnesota asks what went wrong, and with immaculate storytelling and journalistic precision asks why it took so long to solve. A tour de force of investigative reporting, "In The Dark" is a podcast as deftly incisive in telling the human tale as it is full and unrelenting in its attention to broader policy implications."The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel"
Mars Patel LLC (Panoply)
This original, serialized podcast transports listeners to follow Mars Patel—a plucky but brilliant outcast prone to trouble—and his friends as they investigate the mysterious connection between disappearing kids and a billionaire inventor. With vivid characters and fast-paced storytelling, "The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel" recaptures the best of golden age radio while also representing fresh and diverse young voices."This American Life: Anatomy of Doubt"
This American Life, PBC in collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica (Multiple stations/platforms)
The story of a young woman whose allegations of rape are dismissed as attention-seeking lies by both the police and those closest to her, juxtaposed with the account of how her rapist was eventually captured by another police department. The report is a chilling indictment of doubt, a harrowing picture of the vilification and criminal prosecution the victim suffered, and a heartfelt reminder to trust what victims say."Wells Fargo Hurts Whistleblowers"
NPR
A substantial report on the systemic issues of a ravenous sales culture at Wells Fargo that led not only to the creation of two million fake consumer banking accounts, but also the irrevocable blacklisting of employees who attempted to report unethical practices. Interviews with former employees detail the pressures of working in a grindhouse atmosphere to meet daily quotas and the damaging repercussions of whistleblowing, which prompted further U.S. Senate inquiry on bank self-regulation.
-
Web Winners
"Hell and High Water"
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune
A multimedia, interactive collaboration that weaves cutting-edge climate science, digital mapping tools, engineering simulations, on-the-ground reporting, and compelling photography to tell the story of Houston’s current and future vulnerability to dangerous flooding resulting from global warming.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day