The winners of the 2024 Peabody Awards have been announced, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Bear, Bluey, Fellow Travelers and The Last of Us are some of the 34 high-profile projects that will be receiving the awards.
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver will receive its third Peabody, while Reservation Dogs has been honored with its second.
Peabody Award winners are selected through unanimous vote of 32 jurors. There were 1,100 entries from radio/podcasts, TV and digital/web entertainment, arts, children's/youth, documentary, interactive programming, news and public service.
HBO | Max has seven awards, leading the pack. PBS followed with five and Amazon MGM Studios has three. The Washington Post and FX won two each.
Special awards
Star Trek is also receiving the Peabody Institutional Award. International rights group WITNESS will be honored with the first Global Impact Award. WITNESS is a non-profit organization which partners with on-the-ground groups supporting the documentation of human rights violations, as well as public engagement and advocation for policy change. These special award were announced Thursday, May 9.
It was announced earlier this week that Mel Brooks and Quinta Brunson are also set to receive special awards.
Peabody executive director Jeffrey Jones said, “Whether courageously documenting wars across the globe or cleverly bringing much needed smiles to our faces, the winners of the 84th Peabody Awards each crafted compelling and imaginative stories. Spanning a wide range of mediums and genres, they delivered enthralling projects that are worthy of our highest recognition.”
The 84th Peabody Awards will celebrate the honorees on June 9, in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be hosted by Kumail Nanjiani.
The History
Formally known as the George Foster Peabody Awards, named after American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody. It's the US' oldest major electronic media award.
In 1938, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to form an awards body for radio similar to the Pulitzer Prizes for print media. By 1940, the NAB formed a partnership with the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism to sponsor the awards.
The first Peabody Awards ceremony was on March 29, 1941 at the Commodore Hotel in New York. These awards were for radio broadcasts from the previous year. Award categories for TV programs were first introduced in 1948. And in 1981, cable TV award categories were added.
The Peabody ceremonies were aired on television for the first time on Aug. 23, 2000. At the time, there were 36 award for programs aired in 1999. The next year, webcast entries were accepted for the first time.
2024 Peabody Awards winners list
Arts
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters (World Channel and APT)
The documentary was initially released in 2020. The project is honored with an award for, “its vivid testament to the healing power of the arts, and its tenacious celebration of collective survival.”
Judy Blume Forever (Prime Video)
The documentary received an award “for lovingly sketching a feminist coming-of-age tale of this esteemed author and her readers alike, and for wrapping it up in a rallying cry in support of the power of reading.”
Children's/Youth
Bluey (Disney+)
The animated children's show is currently on its third season and received an award “for its unparalleled ability to seamlessly unite childhood bliss with meaningful life lessons, for young and adult viewers alike.”
Documentary
20 Days in Mariupol (PBS)
The Ukrainian documentary premiered last year at the Sundance Film Festival. It won the World Cinema Documentary Competition. The award is “for its harrowing account of civilian life during a brutal conflict, and its insistence on the world bearing witness.”
All That Breathes (HBO | Max)
The film follows the story of siblings Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who rescue and treat injured birds in India. It won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary Competition. The award is “for its graceful portrait of empathy and interconnectivity between nature and man.”
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (HBO | Max)
The documentary is about photographer, artist, and activist Nan Goldin, following her advocacy during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the '80s as well as her fight against the Sackler family due to their role in the US' opioid pandemic. The Peabody is “for capturing the zeal of an artist eager to use her work to create a new vision for and of the world.”
Bobi Wine: The People’s President (National Geographic)
It follows the presidential campaign of the popular Ugandian singer Bobi Wine against the country's regime leader Yoweri Museveni. It was nominated for best documentary feature film at the recent Academy Awards. The award is “for offering up a frank and urgent portrait of an African artist driven to champion the power of the people in the face of a ruling class who’d rather silence him.”
POV: While We Watched (PBS)
The Indian documentary is also known as Greetings, I am Ravish Kumar in Hindi. It profiles NDTV news editor Kumar's journalistic independence int he face of general Indian media bias. The award is “for its powerful defense of independent journalism and its poignant portrait of everyday courage in the face of radicalized politics and publics.”
The Stroll (HBO | Max)
The documentary chronicles New York City trans history, as told through the eyes of Black and Latina trans women who had worked in the sex industry at the Meatpacking District in the '80s and '90s, in the area known as The Stroll.
The award is “for excavating local queer history with dignity and celebrating the resilience of a tight-knit community of trans sex workers who are seldom afforded such a caring gaze—and telling, in the process, a cautionary tale about the ills of gentrification.”
Entertainment
The Bear (FX)
The multi-award winning series will premiere its third season on June 27. The award is “for its searing portrayal of culinary ambition on a knife’s edge.”
Dead Ringers (Prime Video)
The Rachel Weisz-led six-episode series won an award “for aptly packaging a bold adaptation of this twinned-body horror classic within the continued nightmarish world of women’s reproductive health care in the United States.”
Fellow Travelers (Showtime)
The eight-episode miniseries starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey follows the decades-long romance between their characters Hawk and Tim, who met at the height of 1950s McCarthyism. The show won a Peabody “for chronicling a half century’s worth of LGBTQ history and anchoring it in a sweeping romance that makes us swoon and blush in equal measure.”
Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)
The reality hoax sitcom about a fake jury trial and starred Ronald Gladded as one of the jurors — the only one who is unaware of the hoax. The show won the award “for wrapping up a lesson of civic responsibility within a warmhearted comedic tale, and for creating a bold feat of nonfiction storytelling that proves reality television can, surprisingly, bring out the best in all of us.”
The Last of Us (HBO | Max)
The series adaptation, gearing up for its second season, of the massively popular video game won a Peabody “for its creative achievements as a feat of cross-media translation, and for setting a new, high watermark for the artistic possibilities of video game adaptations.”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Israel-Hamas War (HBO | Max)
It's the second award for the show, this time “for this episode’s diligent chronicling of an incredibly complex political conflict and its incisive commentary on human rights.”
Reality (HBO | Max)
The Sydney Sweeney-led movie based on the FBI interrogation transcript of intelligence leaker Reality Winner won an award “for challenging viewers with a gripping dramatization of real-life events that eschews traditional attempts to explain personal and political motivations, and encouraging us to find in such frictions the very essence of storytelling in a post-truth era.”
Reservation Dogs (FX)
The three-season series followed the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma. The show won an award “for dispelling Hollywood’s colonialist tropes and turning violent or sanctimonious depictions of Indigenous Americans into fiercely liberated portrayals of individuals navigating life on the Rez.”
Somebody Somewhere (HBO | Max)
The series is currently on its third season and won an award “for its combination of pathos and hilarity.”
Interactive & Immersive
The Hidden History of Racism in New York City (Instagram)
The six-part micro-documentary series set in New York won an award “for utilizing social video to share powerful truths in an innovative format.”
Pentiment (Xbox, PC, PlayStation 4|5, and Nintendo Switch)
The 2D narrative adventure role-playing video game won an award “for its innovative fusion of sweeping historical sagas with smaller personal tales, and for exemplifying player agency in storytelling.”
We Are OFK (PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Steam)
The single-player episodic adventure game won an award “for offering an interactive and inclusive experience that combines music and authentic storytelling.”
You Destroy. We Create | The war on Ukraine’s culture (Meta Quest)
NowHere Media used VR technology, drones, and photogrammetry to take the audience to Ukrainian artists and cultural workers who are protecting, rebuilding, and generating art in a time of crisis. The project won an award “for illuminating the power of culture and community in a time of war, and a nuanced, steady, transcendent use of 360-degree immersive VR filmmaking in a conflict zone.”
News
“Against All Enemies” (NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth)
The news segment won an award “for shining a light on an insidious attack on democratic ideals and exemplifying the ways dogged journalism can counter coordinated claims of disinformation.”
“Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court” (PBS)
The news special won an award “for painting a revelatory psychological and social portrait of an American power couple at the center of today’s fights over democracy and individual rights.”
“Hate Comes to Main Street” (WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5)
The news segment won an award “for exposing one candidate’s shamelessness and showing the invaluable role of local TV reporting in holding politicians to account.”
“It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive” (Al Jazeera Media Network)
The segment's title comes from Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda's sign-off message, winning the award “for showing bravery and persistence in the midst of imminent danger, and for carrying a heavy journalistic burden as the entire world looks on.”
“War in the Holy Land” (PBS NewsHour)
The special won an award “for covering the most divisive international story of our time with immediacy, fairness, and vital context.”
Public Service
“America and the Taliban” (PBS)
The special won an award “for taking viewers on an eye-opening journey across a country and war that are all too often misunderstood.”
“The Post Roe Baby Boom: Inside Mississippi's Maternal Health Crisis” (USA Today streaming channels)
The segment won an award “for its stellar reporting on the crisis of maternal healthcare in an often overlooked region.”
Radio/Podcast
“The Big Dig” (GBH-News)
The Boston-based podcast won “for cutting through the cynicism that surrounded this infamous experiment, and exposing forces that will remain in play as we fight over contemporary attempts to rethink the infrastructure of tomorrow.”
“The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop” (The Washington Post)
The podcast won an award “for weaving an intimate chronicle of this pivotal, enduring chapter in Caribbean history.”
“Post Reports: Surviving to graduation” (The Washington Post)
Another podcast The Washington Post won “for capturing the fears and anxieties of a generation of students and educators whose day-to-day lives are shaped by gun violence and its inescapable aftermath.”
“The Retrievals” (Serial Productions and The New York Times)
The New York Times podcast won “for the exemplary sensitivity of its reporting, the power of its inquiries, and its vital contributions at a time of great uncertainty around women’s reproductive health.”
“You Didn’t See Nothin” (Invisible Institute and USG Audio)
The podcast won “for its spirited inquiry, aesthetic heights, and its bold questioning of the limits of journalism.”
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