Nine documentaries selected for the Peabody 30

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors revealed today nine winners in the Documentary category for programs released in 2017. The honorees, part of the annual Peabody 30, include stories that give insight to the lingering grief of communities after mass shootings, the impact of climate change on Earth’s oceans, and young activists fighting for a path to citizenship. The Peabody Awards are based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Peabody Award winners, including Carol Burnett, recipient of the first-ever Peabody Career Achievement Award presented by Mercedes-Benz, will be celebrated on Saturday, May 19 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Hasan Minhaj, comedian, writer and senior correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” will serve as host. The presenting sponsor is Mercedes-Benz, the official automobile of the 77th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony. Supporting sponsor is The Coca-Cola Co. Variety is the exclusive media partner.

Forthcoming releases include: Entertainment/Children’s & Youth on April 19; and News/Radio/Public Service programming on April 24.

  • 2017 Documentary Winners

  • America Reframed: Deej - American Documentary, Inc., WORLD Channel, Rooy Media LLC, Independent Television Service (ITVS)

    America ReFramed: Deej
    American Documentary, Inc; WORLD Channel; Rooy Media LLC; Independent Television Service (ITVS) (WORLD Channel)

    A bold step forward in inclusive filmmaking that allows David James (Deej) Savarese, a nonspeaking young man with autism, to tell his own story, focusing on accomplishment and possibility, not limits and barriers.

    Available Online:America Reframed: Deej

  • American Masters: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise - The People's Poet Media Group, LLC, THIRTEEN's AMERICAN MASTERS for WNET and ITVS in association with Artemis Rising

    American Masters: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
    The People’s Poet Media Group, LLC, Thirteen’s American Masters for WNET and ITVS in association with Artemis Rising (PBS/WNET/TV)

    A vivid portrait of Maya Angelou, who, while best known as one of America’s leading writers, also blazed a brave and original life as a performer, actress, and activist integral to the civil rights movement and the celebration of African-American experience.

    Available Online:American Masters: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (PBS / WNET)

  • Chasing Coral - An Exposure Labs Production in partnership with The Ocean Agency + View Into the Blue in association with Argent Pictures

    Chasing Coral
    An Exposure Labs Production in partnership with The Ocean Agency & View Into the Blue in association with Argent Pictures & The Kendeda Fund (Netflix)

    This surprisingly emotional film expertly documents, through time-lapse underwater photographs, the effects of climate change on the rapid decimation of the world’s coral reefs, events known as coral bleaching that affected 29 percent of the shallow-water coral in the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 alone.

    Available Online:Chasing Coral (Netflix)

  • Independent Lens: Newtown - Mile 22 LLC, Independent Television Service (ITVS), in association with KA Snyder Productions, Cuomo Cole Productions

    Independent Lens: Newtown
    Mile 22 LLC, ITVS, in association with KA Snyder Productions, Cuomo Cole Productions, Artemis Rising and Transform Films (PBS)

    Testimonials from survivors of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history document a traumatized community fractured by grief but driven toward a sense of purpose.

    Available Online:Newtown (PBS)

  • Indivisible - Fuse Media

    Indivisible
    Fuse Media (Fuse/Linear Broadcast)

    An urgent, intimate portrait of heartbreak and determination, disappointment and victory as three young Dreamers navigate confusing immigration policy, bad faith on the part of politicians, and the emotional trauma of family separation.

    Available Online:Indivisible (Fuse / Linear Broadcast)

  • Last Men in Aleppo - Larm Film

    Last Men in Aleppo
    Larm Film, Aleppo Media Center / AMC, American Documentary | POV (PBS)

    Masterful storytelling by civilian filmmakers at the heart of the Syrian crisis as they follow the volunteer group the White Helmets, who provide emergency services to traumatized residents in the rebel-occupied areas of the city of Aleppo.

    Available Online:Last Men in Aleppo (PBS)

  • Oklahoma City - American Experience Films, WGBH Educational Foundation

    Oklahoma City
    American Experience (PBS/WGBH Education Foundation)

    Essential viewing that draws a line from armed standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, to tell the story of both the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history and the rise of anti-government hatred and white militancy.

    Available Online:Oklahoma City (PBS/WGBH Education Foundation)

  • The Islands and the Whales - Intrepid Cinema, Radiator Film

    The Islands and the Whales
    Intrepid Cinema, Radiator Film, American Documentary | POV (PBS)

    An exquisitely photographed documentary that explores the inextricable links between oceans poisoned by coal burning power plants and the direct impact they have on people of the remote Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, who struggle between maintaining their traditional way of life and the long-term health repercussions of mercury poisoning.

    Available Online:The Islands and the Whales (PBS)

  • TIME: The Kalief Browder Story - Spike TV, The Cinemart, Roc Nation

    TIME: The Kalief Browder Story
    Spike TV, The Cinemart, Roc Nation (Spike)

    Powerful miniseries illuminating the greatest flaws of our criminal justice system through the tragic events and death of a young African-American who spent three years on Rikers Island without being convicted of a crime.

    Available Online:TIME: The Kalief Browder Story (Spike)