Campus News

Sixty finalists named for 76th annual Peabody Awards

Selection represents the best in electronic storytelling across genres and platforms

Athens, Ga. – The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors have selected 60 finalists that represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in electronic media during 2016. As part of a new distinction introduced last year, jurors chose 60 finalists out of 1,200 entries from television, radio and the web. The Peabody Awards are based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Over the next several weeks, the winning Peabody programs will be revealed in a succession of announcements by category: Individual/Institutional on April 12; Documentary on April 18; Entertainment on April 20; and News/Radio/Public Service/Web/Education programming on April 25.

Peabody Award winners and finalists will be celebrated at a gala event on Saturday, May 20 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. The event will be taped for a television special to air on both PBS and FUSION networks on Friday, June 2 at 9 p.m. EST and PST. Rashida Jones, a previous Peabody Award winner for “Parks and Recreation” and current star of “Angie Tribeca,” will serve as host.

Time Inc.’s Entertainment Weekly has been named official media partner for the 76th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony and a contributing sponsor of the FUSION after party. The deal includes exclusive content in the print magazine and on EW.com. Supporting sponsors of the 76th annual Peabody Awards ceremony include the Emerson Collective, an organization focused on education, immigration reform, the environment and other social justice initiatives, and The Coca-Cola Co. 

The 60 Peabody Awards Finalists, listed by category and in alphabetical order with network or platform in parentheses are:

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING

“Ask the StoryBots” JibJab Bros. Studios (Netflix)

“Tumble Leaf” Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment (Amazon)

DOCUMENTARY

“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” HBO Documentary Films and SOC Films (HBO)

“Audrie & Daisy” AfterImage Public Media in association with Actual Films (Netflix)

“Chasing Heroin” FRONTLINE (PBS/WGBH)

“Confronting ISIS” FRONTLINE (PBS/WGBH)

“Exodus” FRONTLINE (PBS/WGBH)

“4.1 Miles” The New York Times Op-Docs (NYTimes.com)

“Great Performances: Hamilton’s America”
A RadicalMedia Production in association with THIRTEENTH PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET (PBS)

“Hip-Hop Evolution” Banger Films (Netflix, HBO Canada)

“Independent Lens: The Armor of Light” Purple Mickey Productions, in association with Fork Films (PBS)

“Independent Lens: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution”
Firelight Films Inc. and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) (PBS)

“Independent Lens: Trapped”
Trilogy Films LLC Bigmouth Productions, Cedar Creek Productions and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) (PBS)

“Islamic State’s Most Wanted” BBC World Service (BBC News Online)

“Last Chance U”
A Netflix production in association with Conde Nast Entertainment, Endgame Entertainment and One Potato Productions (Netflix)

“Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing”
HBO Documentary Films and Break Thru Films in association with The Boston Globe (HBO)

“MAVIS!” Film First and HBO Documentary Films (HBO)

“O.J.: Made in America” ESPN Films and Laylow Films (ESPN)

“POV: Hooligan Sparrow” POV | American Documentary (PBS)

“POV: The Look of Silence” POV | American Documentary (PBS)

“POV: The Return” POV | American Documentary (PBS)

“POV: What Tomorrow Brings” POV | American Documentary (PBS)

“Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four”
Deborah S. Esquenazi Productions, LLC (Investigation Discovery)

“The Forger” The New York Times (Video)

“The Secret Life of Muslims”
Seftel Productions (Vox, The USA Today Network, PRI’s The World, CBS Sunday Morning)

“13th” Forward Movement LLC and Kandoo Films (Netflix)

“Zero Days”
Magnolia Pictures and Participant Media, in association with Showtime Documentary Films, Global Produce/Jigsaw Productions (Showtime)

ENTERTAINMENT

“American Crime” ABC Studios (ABC)

“Atlanta” FX Productions (FX Networks)

“Better Things” FX Productions (FX Networks)

“Cleverman”
Goalpost Pictures and Pukeko Pictures for ABC-TV Australia in co-production with SundanceTV and Red Arrow International, with the assistance of Screen Australia, Screen NSW and The New Zealand Screen Production Grant (SundanceTV)

“Happy Valley” BBC One (BBC One, Netflix)

“Horace and Pete” Pig Newton Inc. (LouisCK.net)

“Lemonade” HBO Entertainment in association with Parkwood Entertainment (HBO)

“Marvel’s Luke Cage” Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix (Netflix)

“National Treasure” The Forge (Channel 4)

“Stranger Things” 21 Laps for Netflix (Netflix)

“This Is Us” Rhode Island Ave. Productions, Zaftig Films, 20th Century Fox Television (NBC)

“The Night Of” HBO Entertainment in association with BBC, Bad Wolf Productions and Film Rites (HBO)

“VEEP” HBO Entertainment (HBO)

NEWS

“Arrested at School: Criminalizing Classroom Misbehavior” KNTV Bay Area (NBC)

“Battle for Mosul” (CNN)

“Big Buses, Bigger Problems: Investigating DCS” KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth (NBC)

“CBS News 60 Minutes: The White Helmets” (CBS)

“Charity Caught on Camera” WTHR-TV Indianapolis (NBC)

“Dangerous Exposure” WTHR-TV Indianapolis (NBC)

“Heart of an Epidemic, West Virginia’s Opioid Addiction”
The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley (CBS)

“ISIS in Iraq and Syria” (CNN)

“Student Debt” HBO, VICE, Bill Maher (HBO)

“Undercover in Syria” (CNN)

PUBLIC SERVICE

“#MoreThanMean-Women in Sports ‘Face’ Harassment”
Just Not Sports & One Tree Forest Films (YouTube/Twitter/Facebook)

“100 Women” BBC World Service (BBC World Network)

RADIO/PODCAST

“A Life Sentence: Victims, Offenders, Justice, and My Mother” Transom.org

“Homecoming” Gimlet Media

“How to Be a Girl” Marlo Mack, in partnership with KUOW Seattle

“In The Dark” APM Reports

“The Heart: Silent Evidence Series” The Heart

“This American Life: Anatomy of Doubt”
This American Life, PBC in collaboration with The Marshall Project and ProPublica (Multiple stations/platforms)

“The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel” (Panoply)

“Unprisoned” WWNO and AIR

“Wells Fargo Hurts Whistleblowers” (NPR)

WEB

“Hell and High Water” ProPublica and The Texas Tribune

About Peabody Awards
The Peabody Awards honor the most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories in television, radio and digital media. Each year, Peabody Awards are bestowed upon a curated collection of 30 stories that capture society’s most important issues-known as the Peabody 30. Honorees must be unanimously chosen by the Peabody Board of Jurors, a diverse assembly of industry professionals, media scholars, critics, and journalists who each bring a unique perspective of what constitutes a story that matters. From major Hollywood productions to local journalism, the network of Peabody Awards winners is a definitive collection of society’s most important stories and storytellers, including winners that have ranged from Edward R. Murrow, Carol Burnett, and David Letterman to “The Sopranos,” “Sesame Street,” “Breaking Bad,” and “Serial.” The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940 at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and are still based in Athens today. For more information, visit peabodyawards.com or follow @PeabodyAwards on Twitter.

About Grady College
Established in 1915, the UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in advertising, entertainment and media studies, journalism and public relations. The college offers several graduate degrees and is home to the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.