UGA: Peabody awards show is moving to Los Angeles

Peabody has announced that its annual ceremony, the Peabody Awards, will be held 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 take place in Los Angeles.

The Peabody Awards, which were founded at the University of Georgia, honor the most intelligent, powerful and moving stories told in broadcasting and digital media. These stories—from entertainment to documentary to news programming—shape our thinking and understanding of the world in which we live. Peabody Award nominees and winners are an exclusive group who transcend commerce and rise to the level of art, creating compelling narratives that tackle today’s 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 included in the main Peabody ceremony.

“Moving the Peabody Awards to Los Angeles, a city practically built on the power of storytelling, is an exciting evolution of Peabody’s commitment to curating the most powerful and moving stories told in broadcasting and digital media. Los Angeles gives us the opportunity to reimagine the awards show and incorporate more talent and presenters into a ceremony that promises to be nothing short of phenomenal,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody. “We’re also thrilled to welcome Carrie Lozano, an incredibly accomplished documentary filmmaker and journalist, to our board of jurors, which will be led by the brilliant Peabody veteran and journalist John Seigenthaler.”

Longtime “NBC Nightly News” anchor and correspondent Seigenthaler has been named as the next chair of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors. After six years as a member of the Board of Jurors, this marks the first year that Seigenthaler will serve as chair of the prestigious program’s judging body.

“It is a special honor to be part of this diverse and talented team of judges,” Seigenthaler said.  “The Peabodys are unique because 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 his 11 years at NBC News, Seigenthaler anchored “NBC Nightly News Weekend” edition, appeared on “Meet the Press,” “Dateline,” “TODAY,” “Weekend TODAY,” MSNBC, CNBC and Discovery Channel. He also was an anchor and reporter in 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 at the global communications firm, Finn Partners.   He is a member of the Freedom Forum Advisory Board, and a member of the judging committee for the RFK Journalism Awards. He holds a B.A. degree in public policy studies from Duke University.

Peabody has also appointed Carrie Lozano to its board of jurors.

Carrie Lozano is the director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film and Artist Programs 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 & Sciences and serves on the board of ProPublica and on the advisory boards of PBS Frontline and U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she is an alumna.

The Peabody Board of Jurors is made up of media industry professionals, media scholars, critics and journalists, appointed by the program’s executive director to a renewable three-year term of service.

Nominees for the 83rd Peabody Awards will be announced in April with the winners announced in May. All nominees must receive a unanimous vote by the Peabody Board of Jurors. The awards ceremony will be produced by Bob Bain Productions.

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