The George Foster Peabody award has been given to those who excel in radio and television broadcasting in America since 1941. The Peabody Awards are the oldest awards ceremony dedicated to electronic media, with a long history of successful recipients. Each year in June, the Peabody Awards are presented, and winning one is regarded as a great honor.
The history of the Peabody award can be traced back to 1938, when the United States National Association of Broadcasters began planning to award excellence awards. The awards system was created in collaboration with the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and was modeled after the international Pulitzer Prizes. The award is named after George Foster Peabody, a major donor to both the university and the award. Marjorie Waite, his daughter, served on the awards’ advisory board and designed the bronze medal that tops the physical award.
In 1941, the first awards ceremony was held for projects completed in previous years. CBS Radio won for Public Service by a Network, CBS Radio’s Elmer Davis won for News Reporting, and KSTP Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota won for the program America Calling. The Peabody Awards began including television awards in 1948, recognizing the growing trend in media.
Any person or organization can submit a Peabody Award nomination on behalf of a program, person, or media production. The Peabody Board considers all suggestions and may decide to take action on its own, taking into account programs and people who have not yet been nominated. With the exception of major motion pictures in wide release, most electronic media forms released for public consumption are permissible. The number of Peabody awards that can be given out in a single year is unlimited, but it has never exceeded 36.
The Peabody awards, which have a history of honoring non-mainstream work, are often regarded as the highest honor available to media creators and participants. Children’s programming, documentary film, broadcast journalism, and television programming are among the honor categories. Awards are given to the broadcasting station rather than the individual program being recognized, in keeping with tradition, though major participants in the program may accept the award.
The Peabody Award is a unique honor that, for the most part, avoids commercialization. The Peabody Awards, unlike the Oscars or the Emmys, are not flashy or filled with A-list celebrities. Regardless of source or box office returns, they are adamant about promoting high-quality programming. The Peabody Board is credited by many in the media as a driving force in the insistence on old-fashioned journalism, crediting those who present important stories rather than big-money makers.