'Glee,' BBC and Craig Ferguson win prestigious awards

The Peabody Awards, an international prize recognizing distinguished achievement in electronic media, announced its winning broadcast, cablecast, radio, and webcast programming for 2009 at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Wednesday.

The 69h Annual Peabody Award recipients range from popular sitcoms to news documentaries, including BBC America, Robert Redford's Sundance Channel, and SesameStreet.org.

Winning entertainment shows and the reasons include:
• Glee (Fox): the new television musical dramedy about diverse members of a high-school choral club, for being "dependably tuneful and entertaining"
• Modern Family (ABC): a quirky and perceptive contemporary comedy about a multicultural family that maintains an old-fashioned heart
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS): the witty Scottish-born host makes late-night TV safe for ideas - noted for his interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (BBC/HBO): Based on Alexander McCall Smith's best-selling novels set in Botswana come alive in a groundbreaking series
• In Treatment (HBO): this fictional series of psychiatrist-patient one-on-ones is the very essence of drama, starring Gabriel Byrne and Mia Wasikowska ( Alice in Wonderland).

Winners from foreign television programs included Noodle Road, a visual tour of Asia's culinary staple by South Korea's KBS 1TV. Also getting a nod, Hong Kong's Now-Broadband TV News Channel, and The Philippines' GMA Network Inc.

The majority of nods went to special news reports and documentary programs on television and radio, investigating topics such as the financial crisis, the Sichuan earthquake, medical marijuana, Afghanistan, and the art of origami paper folding.

There are no set categories or number of awards given each year. The Peabody Board is a 16-member group, comprised of television critics, broadcast and cable industry executives, academics, editors, and experts.

The awards for the 69th Annual George Foster Peabody Awards will be presented to recipients at a ceremony on May 17, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, hosted by Diane Sawyer of ABC News.

For the complete list of winners: www.peabody.uga.edu

RC