60 Peabody Awards Nominees Unveiled

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors has chosen 60 nominees representing the most compelling and empowering stories released in electronic media during 2017 for the 77th annual ceremony.

The jurors selected the 60 nominees from approximately 1,200 entries from TV, radio/podcasts and the web. Over the next several weeks, the winning 30 programs and content will be revealed across a range of categories that includes documentary (April 17), entertainment and children’s and youth (April 19) and news and radio/public service programming (April 24). In the children’s and youth programming arena, the nominees are Andi Mack (Horizon Productions, Disney Channel) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix).

A number of titles are up for the entertainment award. These include Alias Grace (Halfire Entertainment in association with CBC, Netflix), The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu/MGM/White Oak Pictures/The Littlefield Company/Daniel Wilson Productions, Hulu) American Vandal (CBS Television Studios, Netflix), Better Call Saul, (Sony Pictures Television/Gran Via Productions, AMC), Halt and Catch Fire (AMC Studios/Gran Via Productions, AMC), Insecure (HBO Entertainment in association with Issa Rae Productions, HBO), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO Entertainment, HBO), Legion (FX Productions/Marvel Television, FX Networks) and Star Trek: Discovery (CBS Television Studios, CBS All Access).

In the documentary space, some of the contenders are Planet Earth II (BBC Studios Natural History Unit with BBC America, BBC America), America ReFramed: Deej (American Documentary/WORLD Channel/Rooy Media/Independent Television Service, WORLD Channel) and Chasing Coral (Exposure Labs, Netflix). Other nominees in that category include City of Ghosts (Amazon Studios/A&E IndieFilms/Our Time Projects in association with Jigsaw Productions, A&E), Heroin(e) (Netflix Original Documentary in association with The Center for Investigative Reporting/Requisite Media, Netflix), I Have A Message for You (The New York Times Op-Docs, The New York Times), Indivisible (Fuse Media, Fuse/linear broadcast) and Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Spike TV/The Cinemart/Roc Nation, Spike).

The news category included nominations for a range of titles such as Charlottesville: Race & Terror (VICE Media, HBO), Fall fo ISIS in Iraq and Syria (CNN) and Human Toll in Yemen (BBC News, BBC World News/BBC World News America). Additional news nominees are Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: The Strongman-Ramzan Kadyrov (HBO Sports, HBO), The Whistleblower (CBS News 60 Minutes, CBS) and USA Gymnastics (CBS News 60 Minutes, CBS), among others.

The first-ever Peabody Career Achievement Award will be announced on April 12. The awards will be presented at a gala event on May 19 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, New York. Hasan Minhaj, comedian, writer and senior correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, will serve as host.

“True to tradition, we are proud to present a rich mix of excellence in the craft of storytelling,” said Jeffrey P. Jones, the executive director of Peabody. “These stories reflect important social issues and exemplify the power of diverse voices and platforms in media today.”