The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors Wednesday announced the 60 nominees selected to represent the top stories released in broadcasting and streaming media during 2021. The nominees were chosen by a unanimous vote of 19 jurors from over 1,200 entries from television, podcasts/radio and the web in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth and public service.
“Following yet another turbulent year, Peabody is proud to honor an array of stories that poignantly and powerfully help us make sense of the challenges we face as a nation and world,” Peabody executive director Jeffrey Jones said in a statement. “Demonstrating the immense power of stories, these nominees exposed our societal failures and celebrated the best of the human spirit. They are all worthy of recognition, and Peabody is proud to celebrate them.”
Of the 60 nominations, PBS and HBO lead with 13 and eight, respectively, followed by Hulu and Netflix (five each), The New York Times and NBC (four) and ABC, Prime Video, BBC and Showtime (two each).
Here are the winners hailing from the national television news space:
NEWS
Afghanistan: Documenting A Crucial Year
BBC World News America goes in-depth on the effort to end the United States’ longest war.
BBC World News (BBC World News America)
The Appointment
A Nightline crew goes along on a young Texas woman’s journey across state lines to seek an abortion, showing the ways increasingly strict laws in some states require women to go to extremes in exercising their legal right to choose.
ABC News Nightline (ABC News Nightline)
Inside Yemen
PBS NewsHour’s special correspondent Jane Ferguson goes to the frontlines with Yemeni soldiers as they fight Iran-backed Houthi rebels, after U.S. president Joe Biden announced an end to American support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.
PBS NewsHour (PBS NewsHour)
January 6th Reporting
PBS NewsHour correspondent Lisa Desjardins was the only journalist reporting live from inside the Capitol as insurrectionists stormed the building on January 6, 2021, to disrupt the counting of Electoral College votes that certified Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. Desjardins’ courageous reporting provided a vital document of a critical turning point in American democracy.
PBS NewsHour (PBS NewsHour)
Nima Elbagir: Human Rights Investigations in Ethiopia
CNN’s chief international investigative correspondent, Nima Elbagir, exposed widespread human rights atrocities by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops in the Tigray region.
CNN, Elephant Media (CNN)
Transnational
This Vice series covers transgender communities around the world, from India’s only Quran school for trans Muslims and the Detroit ballroom scene—to trans activists fighting for U.K. health coverage and Mexico’s first shelter built by and for trans people who are former sex workers.
Vice News (Vice News Tonight)
PODCAST/RADIO
The Lazarus Heist
BBC goes deep on the sprawling, epic story of the hacking ring that began with the 2014 release of internal Sony emails that rocked Hollywood and was blamed on North Korea—but went much wider and deeper, including an attempt to steal a billion dollars.
Long Form Audio, BBC News for BBC World Service (BBC World Service)
Southlake
NBC News dives into battles over racism and the teaching of American history through a racial lens in one of the best school districts in Texas.
NBC News Audio (NBC News)
The 30 winners of the 82nd annual Peabody Awards will be named during a multi-day virtual celebration from June 6 through June 9. Celebrity presenters will announce each winner via a short video, which will include remarks from the winners. Videos will be shared June 6-9, between Noon-1:30 p.m. ET each day.
The Peabody Awards are based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.