Peabody has announced that its annual ceremony, the Peabody Awards, will take place for the first time in Los Angeles at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Sunday, June 11, 2023. The announcement marks Peabody’s first in-person ceremony since 2019, as well as the first time in its history that the Awards will be held in Los Angeles.
The Peabody Awards, founded at the University of Georgia, honor the most intelligent, powerful and moving stories told in broadcast and digital media. These stories, from entertainment to documentaries to news programming, shape our thinking and understanding of the world in which we live. Peabody Award nominees and winners are a unique group that transcends commerce and rises to the level of art, creating compelling narratives that address current issues with depth, complexity, and empathy. The program is based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
This will also be the first year that the digital and interactive storytelling category, which was introduced last year and includes gaming, virtual reality and social video, will be featured at Peabody’s main ceremony.
“Moving the Peabody Awards to Los Angeles, a city built virtually on the power of storytelling, is an exciting evolution of Peabody’s commitment to curating the most powerful and moving stories told in broadcast and digital media. Los Angeles gives us the opportunity to reinvent the awards show and bring in more talent and presenters in a ceremony that promises to be nothing short of phenomenal,” said Jeffrey Jones, Peabody CEO. “We are also delighted to welcome Carrie Lozano, an incredibly accomplished documentary filmmaker and journalist, to our judging panel, which will be led by brilliant Peabody veteran and journalist John Seigenthaler.”
Longtime “NBC Nightly News” host and correspondent Seigenthaler has been named as the next Chairman of the Peabody Awards Board of Judges. After six years as a member of the Judging Board, this marks the first year Seigenthaler will serve as president of the prestigious show’s judging body.
“It is a special honor to be a part of this diverse and talented team of judges,” Seigenthaler said. “The Peabodys are unique in that we celebrate ‘stories that matter’ in a complicated and ever-changing world. Once again, we look forward to the challenging task of choosing the best of the best.”
During her 11 years at NBC News, Seigenthaler hosted “NBC Nightly News Weekend,” appeared on “Meet the Press,” “Dateline,” “TODAY,” “Weekend TODAY,” MSNBC, CNBC and the Discovery Channel. He was also an anchor and reporter on local television news at KOMO TV (ABC) in Seattle, and WKRN TV (ABC) and WSMV TV (NBC) in Nashville.
Seigenthaler is currently a Managing Partner of global communications firm Finn Partners. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Freedom Forum and a member of the judging committee for the RFK Journalism Awards. He has a bachelor’s degree in public policy studies from Duke University.
Peabody also appointed Carrie Lozano to its jury board.
Carrie Lozano is the Director of the Artists and Documentary Film Programs at the Sundance Institute and is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. Prior to Sundance, she was director of the International Documentary Association’s Enterprise Documentary and Pare Lorentz funds, where she supported more than 60 diverse films and filmmakers at the intersection of documentary and journalism. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of directors for ProPublica and on the advisory boards for PBS Frontline and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she is an alumnus.
The Peabody Jury Board is comprised of media industry professionals, media scholars, critics, and journalists, appointed by the program’s executive director for a three-year renewable term of service.
Nominees for the 83rd Annual Peabody Awards will be announced in April and winners will be announced in May. All nominees must receive the unanimous vote of the Peabody Board of Juries. The awards ceremony will be produced by Bob Bain Productions.
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