28 May 2010, Posted by Jessica Menkin in Articles,Television, 0 Comments

The 69th Annual Peabody Awards: An Insider’s Perspective

Presented by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Georgia, winning a Peabody Award is considered a career accomplishment and an initiation into excellence by many broadcasters.

Upwards of a thousand programs apply for consideration each year. Each qualifying program goes through a rigorous preliminary recommendation process that includes 30 panels of two scholars and a student from the Grady College at The University of Georgia. Each application is considered by the Board, but the recommendation process ensures a greater chance of winning the award. The final decision is unanimous among a Board of  15 prestigious and scholarly judges. There are no categories and no limits on the number of winners, therefore each winner has equal merit among the others (whether submitted by an independent producer or a studio mega-producer, classified as a full-documentary, or a TV program).

With past winners including The Sopranos, The Simpsons, The Colbert Report, and Lost, the Peabody Awards are among the most prestigious awards given in Broadcast– though few people know about it. This year’s winners include Modern Family, Glee, and Forest Whitaker’s Brick City, to name a few.

I had the fortune of being part of the preliminary judging process during my time at UGA, and because of it, this past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 69th annual Peabody Awards at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Each student judge is invited to the ceremony after all of their work in the selection committees. In exchange for our presence at the show, students are given a travel stipend and asked to assist with running the program. The jobs include backstage production assisting, escorting winners on and off-stage, and PR work– depending on your area of interest.

It was my job to assist with winner interviews. Because of the history of the Peabody Awards, archival interviews are conducted with each winner to hear about their experiences with their productions and what winning a Peabody means to them. These interviews are specifically for the Peabody historical archives (each interview lasting five to ten minutes); interviews with the press were conducted in a separate room. As part of my job, I was to greet the winners at the door of the reception after their rounds with the press. The room was much more intimate than the press room, with had more than 50 members of the media all jumping at the chance to photograph the winners. Instead, this room was more private: with only the winners, a few Board members, two film crews, and a staff photographer to pleasantly greet each winner with a smile.

Despite being a more intimate room, the winner’s reception was still a [chaotic] whirlwind of people coming in from accepting their award–full of excitement, wanting to mingle, wanting to take personal photos, and still having to get through the photo station and to an interviews. The only other place that was more chaotic was the press room; the award ceremony ran beautifully–like clockwork.

Though glamorous, the Peabody Awards have a greater meaning: excellence in the media—in the forms of broadcast, TV, and digital. The diversity of winners at the Awards examples the vastness of possibilities in the industry– recognition can come at any level of experience. The room was constantly full of emotion and excitement, I can imagine the thrill it would be to win the Award and to feel the gratification for something you’ve put your heart into. For me, the experience was a great networking opportunity and a great chance for practicing the “Hollywood” talk. It felt good to be in a room full of people who all were doing big things in the industry.

Among  the excitement, I didn’t have much time to mingle with the executives and the winners during most of the show, but once it slowed down, I got to talk for about five minutes with some of the New York-based HBO execs, and I got to freak out Tim Bricknell (Producer of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and Associate Producer of Cold Mountain) with my excitement to meet him.

I also had a chance to greet and congratulate Forest Whitaker– probably one of the nicest men in Hollywood because he is so personable and humble despite his accomplishments. I was also fortunate enough to shake hands with Ed O’Neill (Jay on Modern Family, best known for playing Al Bundy on Married… With Children) who is also great in person. The other person who was surprisingly cool: Kevin Clash—who puppets and voices Elmo from Sesame Street.

For more information on the Peabody Awards, visit their website, Twitter, or Facebook. Click here for the list of this year’s winners.