Peabody Awards facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Peabody Awards |
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| Presented by | Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia |
| Country | United States |
| First awarded | March 29, 1941 |
The Peabody Awards are special prizes given to the best stories you can find on TV, radio, and the internet. They are named after George Foster Peabody, a kind businessman who gave money to help others. These awards celebrate stories that are powerful, helpful, and inspiring.
People in the media world really respect the Peabody Awards. This is because they are connected to a university and are known for choosing truly great work. The awards started in 1938. They were meant to be like the Pulitzer Prizes, but for radio.
Today, the Peabody Awards recognize programs in seven main areas: news, entertainment, documentaries, kids' shows, education, interactive programs (like websites), and public service. Winners can be radio and television stations, online media, companies that make shows, and even individuals from all over the world.
The Peabody Award was officially created in 1940. It was made to honor excellent radio shows. It is the oldest major award for electronic media in the United States. A special group of judges picks the final winners. They all have to agree on every choice.
The awards focus on how good the storytelling is, not just how popular or famous a show might be. Each year, about 30 winners are chosen from over 1,000 entries. These entries come from many different places and styles. The judges look for "Excellence On Its Own Terms." This means they judge each entry based on its own goals and how well it achieves them.
To enter, people pay a fee. This fee is $350 for most entries and $225 for radio shows.
Contents
History of the Peabody Awards
In 1938, a group called the National Association of Broadcasters decided to create an award. They wanted to honor great achievements in radio broadcasting. A person named Lambdin Kay helped create the award. He worked for WSB radio in Atlanta.
The award was named after George Foster Peabody. He was a businessman who gave money to make the awards possible. Lambdin Kay met John E. Drewry from the University of Georgia. Drewry liked the idea, and so the Peabody Award was officially started in 1940. The Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia became its permanent home.
At first, the Peabody Awards were only for radio shows. But in 1948, they started giving awards for television programs too. In the late 1990s, new categories were added for things found on the World Wide Web. Movies made only for theaters cannot win a Peabody Award.
How Peabody Awards Are Judged
The way Peabody Awards are judged changed in 2014. Before, many people from the University of Georgia and other schools helped review over 1,000 entries. They would watch or listen to entries and then suggest them to the main group of judges.
Since 2015, professors from major universities across the U.S. do the first round of judging. Then, a group of 18 main judges, called the Board of Jurors, picks the nominees and winners. These judges are experts, critics, and media professionals.
The Board of Jurors meets several times to discuss the entries. They also pick their own favorites. They meet at the University of Georgia in April for their final decisions. For a program to win, all the judges must agree on it. For many years, there was no set number of awards. However, since 2016, only 30 programs are chosen as winners each year. These 30 are considered the very best out of 60 nominees.
Important People Behind the Awards
- George Foster Peabody (1852–1938) is the person the awards are named after. He was a very successful banker. He used a lot of his money to support education and good causes.
- Lambdin Kay was in charge of the awards for the National Association of Broadcasters. He was asked to create a prize for the best radio shows.
- John E. Drewry (1902–1983) was the first dean of the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. He helped Lambdin Kay create the Peabody Awards in 1940.
- Worth McDougald (1926–2007) was the director of the Peabody Awards program from 1963 until 1991.
- Barry Sherman (1952–2000) was the director from 1991 until he passed away in 2000.
- Horace Newcomb held a special position for the Peabodys at the University of Georgia from 2001 to 2013.
- Jeffrey P. Jones took over from Horace Newcomb in 2013. He is now in charge of the special position for the Peabodys at the University of Georgia.
Award Announcements and Ceremonies
Every spring, the Peabody Awards judges announce the winners. These are for work that came out in the previous year. Usually, the winners are announced through a simple press release or a press conference. Sometimes, TV shows like CBS This Morning or Good Morning America announce some of the winners.
The official Peabody Awards ceremony usually happens in late May or early June. For many years, the awards were given out during a lunch in New York City. In 2015, the ceremony changed to a fancy evening event with a red carpet. Fred Armisen was the host that year.
Many famous people have hosted the Peabody Awards ceremony. These include Walter Cronkite, Jon Stewart, Larry King, and Ira Glass. From 2014 to 2016, the awards show was shown on the TV channel Pivot. In 2017, a special TV show about the 76th Peabody Awards was shown on PBS and Fusion.
Peabody Awards Collection and Archives
The Peabody Awards Collection is a very important part of The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection. These archives are kept at the The University of Georgia. The main goal of the Peabody Archive is to save and share old TV and radio shows. These shows help us remember the history of broadcasting and the state of Georgia.
The collection has almost every entry for the first major broadcast award in the United States. Entries started in 1940 for radio and 1948 for television. At least 1,000 new entries are added every year. These programs are made by local, national, and international creators. The collection shows how television has changed from its very beginning until today. It includes news, documentaries, entertainment, educational shows, and children's programs. After the judging is done, all entries are moved to the Main Library. Here, they are carefully organized and saved for a long time.
In 2017, the University of Georgia and WGBH received money to make old public broadcasting shows available online. These were shows nominated for a Peabody Award between 1941 and 1999. Eventually, about 4,000 hours of these old audio and video recordings will be available. They come from 230 public broadcasting stations across 46 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington D.C.
See also
In Spanish: Premios Peabody para niños
- List of American television awards
- List of Peabody Award winners (1940–1949)
- List of Peabody Award winners (1950–1959)
- List of Peabody Award winners (1960–1969)
- List of Peabody Award winners (1970–1979)
- List of Peabody Award winners (1980–1989)
- List of Peabody Award winners (1990–1999)
- List of Peabody Award winners (2000–2009)
- List of Peabody Award winners (2010–2019)
- List of Peabody Award winners (2020–2029)
