Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia has approved three new members of the George Foster Peabody Awards Board. Joining other distinguished experts who select television and radio’s most coveted prize are Pamela Wallin of New York, Elizabeth Guider of Los Angeles and Thomas Mattia of Atlanta.
“These three new Peabody board members bring an exceptional range of experience related to the worlds of contemporary media,” said Horace Newcomb, Peabody Awards director. “They are fully aware of the significance of the Peabody Award and will assist us enormously as we select works that set the standards for productions throughout the media industries.”
In late March, Wallin, Guider and Mattia will join Newcomb, 2008-09 board chair Ron Simon, and 11 other veteran board members in Athens to choose the recipients of the 68th annual Peabody Awards from a field of more than 1,000 entries from broadcast and cable television, radio and the World Wide Web. The 2008 recipients are scheduled to be announced April 1.
Wallin is an officer of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honor. Her career as a journalist, diplomat and entrepreneur has spanned more than 30 years and several continents.Following stints at CBC Radio and the Ottawa bureau of the Toronto Star, she was recruited by CTV. There, she hosted Canada AM, became Ottawa bureau chief, and anchored the CTV weekend news. In 1992, she became the first Canadian woman to co-anchor the nightly national television newscast, Prime Time News. Author of three best-selling books, she is now the senior adviser on Canada-U.S. relations to the president of the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas in New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Regina and has had fellowships at Queen’s University and Yale University.
Guider is the editor of The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles and has written about entertainment and media subjects for a variety of publications for the last 15 years, from Rome, Paris and London as well as from New York and Los Angeles. In Los Angeles since 1994, she held management responsibilities at Daily Variety Gotham, Daily Variety Los Angeles and Weekly Variety, before taking her current position at The Hollywood Reporter in 2007. She regularly appears on industry panels and belongs to leading media organizations, including Women in Film and BAFTA. She holds a Ph.D. in Renaissance studies from New York University.
Mattia will retire in February from his current position as senior vice-president for worldwide public affairs and communications for the Coca-Cola Company. In that post he is responsible for leading the company’s global public affairs and communications, which include the corporate communications, public policy, internal communications, corporate responsibility and archives functions. Mattia also leads the company’s Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Council and the Bottler Public Affairs Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Public Relations Society of America, the Arthur Page Society and numerous other professional associations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Rutgers University.
The Peabody Awards, established in 1940 and administered by UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, are the oldest honor in electronic media. Today the Peabody recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. For more information, see www.peabody.uga.edu.
Established in 1915, the Grady College provides seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication-management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu.
