Showtime's HOMELAND Among Winners of 71st Annual Peabody Awards

Thirty-eight recipients of the 71st Annual Peabody Awards were announced today by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The winners, chosen by the Peabody board as the best in electronic media for the year 2011, were named in a ceremony in the Peabody Gallery on the University of Georgia Campus.

"The range of the Peabody Awards' search for excellence has never been wider or deeper than this year," said Horace Newcomb, Director of the Peabody Awards. "Local news organizations covered stories with international import as well as those significant within their communities. Documentaries and news reports on issues missed or overlooked by big organizations were available on websites. Comedians engaged in political actions. Radio proved again the power of the individual human voice. Drama took on issues of power and control. Images of disaster appeared alongside images of hope and freedom."

The latest Peabody recipients reflect variety in content, genre and sources of origination.

The winners included Homeland, Showtime's psychologically intense anti-terrorist drama; the classic game show Jeopardy!; TED.com, a website devoted to making creative thinkers' ideas available to one and all; remembrances of 9/11 collected by StoryCorps and broadcast on National Public Radio; and Toxic Secrets, a powerful series of reports by Phoenix's KPHO-TV about American soldiers and South Korean children exposed to Agent Orange three decades ago.

COMPLETE LIST OF RECIPIENTS OF THE 71st ANNUAL PEABODY AWARDS:

CNN's Reporting of the Arab Spring including Worldwide Coverage: Egypt –Wave of Discontent and Uprising in Libya (CNN)

(CNN)

With seasoned correspondents already stationed throughout the Middle East, CNN was prepared when revolution began to leap like wildfire across the region.

TED.com

TED

An outgrowth of a 1984 conference that brought together leaders in technology, entertainment and design (TED), the site makes creative thinkers and their ideas available everywhere, anytime.

American Experience (PBS)

American Experience in association with Apograph Productions, Firelight Media and Q-Ball Productions

Three exceptional documentaries – Triangle Fire, Freedom Riders and Stonewall Uprising – are recognized this year under the banner of this grand American history anthology.

Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families (NPR member stations)

National Public Radio

This three-part report detailed how cultural bias and possible financial gain led North Dakota and 32 other states to ignore federal law barring the separation of Native American children from their families or tribes.

POV: My Perestroika (PBS)

American Documentary/POV/Red Square Productions, Bungalow Town Productions, ITVS International in association with YLE

Russia's past, present and possible future are revealed in nuanced detail by this beautifully constructed film about five schoolmates, now adults, who lived through that country's difficult transition from communism.

The Colbert Report – Super PAC Segments (Comedy Central)

Hello Doggie Inc., Busboy Productions, Spartina Productions, Comedy Central

Launching his own Super PAC as a satirical protest against megabucks politics, Colbert mixed cerebral comedy with inspired sight gags, interviews and preposterously funny monologues.

CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute (CNN, CNN International, CNN Espanol)

CNN, Done & Dusted (aka Fun & Trusted)

The star-studded, televised tribute is the culmination of a year-long effort to identify and reward 10 people from around the world who've made truly significant differences in the lives of others.

StoryCorps 9/11 (NPR Morning Edition)

StoryCorps, NPR, POV, National September 11 Memorial & Museum

The oral history project's powerful response to the 9/11 anniversary presented authorized excerpts from interviews with survivors and victims' relatives as well as YouTube postings of short animated features inspired by their remembrances.

BBC.com (BBC.com)

BBC

With access to more than 2,000 journalists and the BBC's 72 overseas news bureaus, the site is uniquely situated to provide immediate, evolving coverage of news events great and small.

Who Killed Chea Vichea? (KBDI Denver and other NETA stations)

Loud Mouth Films, Limited, Independent Television Service (ITVS)

This investigative documentary, produced on a shoestring budget, covers the 2004 assassination of a Cambodian trade union leader and exposes corruption in one of the world's top exporters of low-cost clothing.

News Magazine: People's Republic of Cheating and

Misjudged Cases (TVB Jade Channel)

Television Broadcasts Limited, Hong Kong

The Hong Kong-based magazine series excelled on two reports, one dealing with the spurious and plagiarized academic publications and dissertations, the other with unjust arrests and prosecutions.

Homeland (Showtime)

Showtime Presents, Teakwood Lane Productions, Cherry Pie Productions, Keshet, Fox 21

This serial drama from Showtime is a game of cat and mouse, a psychological thriller and a Rorschach test of post-9/11 doubts, fears and suspicions rolled into one.
The Untold Stories of the Tsunami in Japan (Fuji Television)

Fuji Television Network, Inc.

Detailed, thorough and heart-stopping, this reliving of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster painstakingly combines familiar and unseen video, expert commentary and interviews with survivors.

Human Rights Watch:

Acting Up: Russia's Civil Society (www.newyorker.com) and

Gold's Costly Dividend: The Porgera Joint Venture (www.hrw.org)

The New Yorker, Human Rights Watch

These arresting, detailed online reports combine photography, video, interviews and written analysis. One documents Russian dissidents, the other the abuse of inhabitants of a remote part of Papua New Guinea by mine security personnel.

Earth Made of Glass (HBO)

Clover and A Bee Films, 33&Out, Inc. in association with HBO Documentary Films

This moving documentary explores how Rwanda is dealing with its horrific legacy of genocide. Both the country's president and an ordinary survivor offer personal perspectives.

Arab Spring from Egypt to Libya (NPR member stations)

National Public Radio

Eloquently describing events or passing her microphone to everyday protesters or regime supporters, NPR foreign correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro provided exemplary coverage throughout the Middle East.

Restoring the American Dream: Fixing Education and

CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS: Interpretation and Commentary on Iran (CNN)

CNN

Zakaria applies his interviewing and analytical skills to impressive effect in his prime-time special devoted to America's education quandary and in his measured, insightful ruminations on Iran.

Bhutto (PBS)

Independent Lens, Bhutto Film, LLC

In this documentary, former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto's life story unfolded like an epic novel, with a fairy tale beginning, a martyr's death and years of social awakening and political courage in between.

Tremé (HBO)

Blown Deadline Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

The storylines snake and swoop like an unhurried jazz jam in this rich drama in which everyday people get on with life in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Portlandia (IFC)

Broadway Video, IFC

A funhouse mirror reflection of Portland, Oregon, a city that takes its progressivism – and its diet – very seriously. The satire is fresh, organic and cage-free.

Their Crime, Your Dime (KING-TV)

KING-TV, Seattle, WA

KING's investigation of food stamp and welfare scams prompted Washington's state legislature to fund a $5 million fraud-prevention squad.

Somalia: Land of Anarchy (BBC1)

BBC

Six years after his producer was gunned down in Somalia, a BBC reporter returns to provide the world with an unflinching look at life in a failed state.

Al Jazeera's Coverage of the Arab Awakening (Al Jazeera English)

Al Jazeera English

From December 2010, when protests erupted in Tunisia, through 201, Al Jazeera was a network of record for millions of viewers throughout the world. On-the-ground reporting was thorough, enterprising and brave.

Toxic Secrets (KPHO-TV)

CBS News 5, KPHO, Phoenix

A dying veteran's confession sparked this powerful account of secretly buried drums of Agent Orange on a South Korean U.S. Army base. Reporter Tammy Leitner traveled to Korea and examined the chemical's effects on Korean kids and U.S. military personnel.

Rebirth (Showtime)

Showtime Presents

By turns poignant and exhilarating, this documentary appraises the impact of the 9/11 attacks on five individuals. Their stories illuminate movement from anger and grief to hope, purpose and renewed spirit.

Game of Thrones (HBO)

Bighead, Littlehead, 360 Television, Grok and Generator Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

Adapted from dark-age fantasy books by George R.R. Martin, the series immerses viewers in a multilayered, distinctly imagined world of mysticism and earthiness, fidelity and deceit, wonder and mayhem.

CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley: Inside Syria (CBS)

CBS News

With a small, disguised camera and no crew, CBS correspondent Clarissa Ward entered Syria posing as a tourist. Her courageous, undercover reporting gave viewers a rare, close-up glimpse of a country falling toward civil war.

Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Universal Television, Deedle-Dee Productions, Fremulon

This shrewd, good-natured comedy about parks department staff in Pawnee, Indiana, never condescends or caricatures. Instead it confronts the characters with problems from the trivial to the serious.

Desert Underwater (KLAS-TV)

KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, NV

The station used a sharply detailed series of reports and a prime-time special to explain how Las Vegas came to take such a crushing hit when the housing bubble burst. The excellent online data base still helps foreclosure-threatened homeowners.

Surviving the Tsunami (NHK)

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.)

Combining its own archival footage with video shot by ordinary citizens, this documentary meticulously examines what happened the day the monster wave hit and what Japan's people and leaders can learn from it.

Operation Deep Freeze (WEWS-TV)

NewsChannel 5, WEWS-TV, Cleveland

This investigation of Navy personnel unwittingly exposed to radiation at an Antarctica base sparked public hearings by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

American Masters: Charles and Ray Eames – The Architect and the Painter (PBS)

Quest Productions, Bread and Butter Films in association with Thirteen's American Masters for WNET

This fascinating and visually inventive biography demonstrates that the mid-century "modern" furniture for which the Eamses are best remembered represents merely a fraction of their ingenious and influential design work.

A Year in the Clouds (PTS)

Public Television Service, Taipei, Taiwan

Beautifully photographed, the film records a year among indigenous Taiwanese mountain people who rely on eco-tourism and shared ownership of land and property to support their communal way of life.

ABC News Brian Ross Investigates:

Peace Corps – A Trust Betrayed (ABC)

ABC News 20/20

Looking into the murder of a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, Ross' team made stunning discoveries of sexual assaults and official cover-ups. The result was a Congressional investigation of the iconic humanitarian program.

On Location (www.globalpost.com)

GlobalPost

Focused on news and events neglected or ignored by other media outlets, the site's growing cadre of writers and videographers posted video reports from 34 different countries in 2011.

Intersexions (SABC 1)

John Hopkins Health and Education South Africa, Curious Pictures Pty Ltd, Ants Multimedia, SABC Education

Aimed at stemming South Africa's AIDS epidemic, Intersexions is public service as educational serial entertainment. The HIV virus itself plays a role as a seductive voice in this well-acted, candidly written program focused mostly on young, restless, high-risk adults.

Austin City Limits (PBS)

KLRU-TV, Austin, TX, PBS

Austin City Limits receives a rare Institutional Peabody Award. Thirty-seven seasons on air make it the world's longest running live music television program. Concerts by the likes of Coldplay, Widespread Panic and Randy Newman made 2011 a banner year for the Lone Star State's music showcase.

Jeopardy! (Syndicated)

Sony Pictures Television

TV quiz shows for $500, please. "Encouraging, celebrating and rewarding knowledge is this Peabody Award winner's legacy." Buzzzzz. "What is Jeopardy!?" Correct.

THE George Foster PEABODY AWARDS are considered the most prestigious. Founded in 1940, the Peabody is the also the oldest electronic media award in the world, recognizing excellence, distinguished achievement, and meritorious public service. The first radio awards were presented in 1941, for work completed in 1940. The first television awards were presented in 1948, the first cable television awards in 1981, and the first web site awards in 2003. Honoring content from large broadcast networks to tiny online outlets, from popular entertainment programs to independently produced documentaries, and all types in between, the Peabody Awards seek out "excellence on its own terms." The awards are administered by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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