REAL SPORTS to Receive 4th duPont-Columbia Broadcast Journalism Award

For the fourth time in 12 years, HBO's REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL is to be honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast journalism. REAL SPORTS was among the 16 winners announced today by the duPont Awards committee.

The award, which will be presented in January in a ceremony at Columbia University, will recognize the most ambitious story tackled by the show since it launched in April of 1995. The July 2016 edition of REAL SPORTS marked the first time in the program's history that an entire episode was dedicated to a single topic: The 80-minute expose titled "The Lords of the Rings" featured an expansive global investigation of the International Olympic Committee, highlighted by an examination of the controversy surrounding the Rio Games as well as the enormous impact the Games have had on host cities in the past decade. Four correspondents - Bryant Gumbel, Bernard Goldberg, Jon Frankel and David Scott - traveled to nine countries to chronicle the largely unchecked power and influence wielded by the IOC. The landmark special aired just days before the start of the Rio Summer Games.

This latest award marks the fourth time REAL SPORTS has received a prestigious duPont, an awards institution founded in 1943. In 2006, REAL SPORTS received the duPont for its Emmy®-winning undercover expose reported by Bernard Goldberg on the enslavement of trafficked children as jockeys in Middle Eastern camel racing. In 2012, the duPont organization recognized the show's series of investigative reports on concussions in sports for, "breaking significant new ground," beginning with Bernard Goldberg's 2007 Emmy®-winning story on the impact of concussions on NFL players and the NFL's position on the issue, and continuing through its 2010 Emmy®-winning report revealing a link between head trauma and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). In 2016, the duPont jury saluted correspondent David Scott's eye-opening investigative report on the troubling accounts emanating from Qatar as the tiny Middle East nation was launching a massive initiative to become an athletic powerhouse and host the 2022 World Cup.

According to Columbia University, which administers the awards, "For 75 years, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards have recognized excellence in broadcast journalism. Regarded today as the most prestigious prizes in broadcast news, the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes, the duPont-Columbia Awards bring the best in broadcast and digital journalism to professional and public attention and honor those who produce it."

Learn more about the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in broadcast and digital journalism at journalism.columbia.edu/dupont.

Other award organizations to have recognized "The Lords of the Rings" HBO report this year include the inaugural "Peter Jennings Award" from the Overseas Press Club, which honors the best TV, video or documentary on the topic of international affairs; the 2017 Sports Emmy®Award in the "Outstanding Sports Journalism" category; and the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) which presented REAL SPORTS with an award this past June for "excellence in investigative reporting by a large broadcast network."

REAL SPORTS returns Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT) with its year-end special looking back at some of the most significant stories that aired in 2017 and featuring a roundtable discussion anchored by Gumbel with all of the show's correspondents.

Image courtesy of HBO

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