“The Bear,” “Bluey,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Last of Us” and “Jury Duty” are among the series set to receive this year’s Peabody Award, the org was set to announce on Thursday morning. The Peabody Awards’ board of 32 jurors have selected 34 winners, all of which received unanimous vote from TV, podcast/radio and web/digital nominees in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service, and interactive programming.
HBO/Max led the wins with seven total, followed by PBS with five, and then three for Amazon MGM Studios and two each for FX and The Washington Post. This repped the second Peabody for “Reservation Dogs” and the third for “Last Week Tonight.”
“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,” said Peabody exec director Jeffrey Jones in a statement. “Spanning a wide range of mediums and genres, they delivered enthralling projects that are worthy of our highest recognition.”
Peabody also announced that Oscar- and Emmy-nominated comedian/actor/writer Kumail Nanjiani will host this year’s 84th annual Peabody Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Sunday, June 9. This reps the Peabody Award’s return to an in-person event for the first time since 2019, and also its first time in L.A. — having previously been held in New York (and virtually over the past four years during the pandemic and Hollywood strikes).
“Through his emotionally powerful and culturally relevant writing and acting, Kumail has established himself as one of the most impactful comedic storytellers working today,” Jones said. “Kumail never fails to make us laugh, and we are so thrilled he will host our first ever awards ceremony in LA and our first awards ceremony in five years.”
Among special Peabody honors, “Star Trek” will receive the org’s Institutional Award, which “recognizes institutions and organizations, as well as series and programs, for their enduring body of work and their lasting impact on the media landscape and the public imagination.” Also, international rights group Witness, which assists global citizens to help protect and defend human rights through the use of video and digital technologies, has won Peabody’s first ever Global Impact Award — which “recognizes media or organizations that have profoundly changed the world for the better.”
As previously announced, Mel Brooks was named winner of the Peabody Career Achievement Award while Quinta Brunson won the Peabody Trailblazer Award. Variety is the media partner for the Peabody Awards ceremony; Peabody is based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
Among themes addressed in the Peabody winners: women’s health, the justice system, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and family. Here are this year’s Peabody Award winners:
ENTERTAINMENT
“The Bear” (FX) FX Productions
“Dead Ringers” (Prime Video) Amazon MGM Studios, Annapurna Television
“Fellow Travelers” (Showtime) Showtime Presents a Fremantle and Showtime Studios Production
“Jury Duty” (Amazon Freevee) Amazon MGM Studios, Picrow, The District, Piece of Work Entertainment
“The Last of Us” (HBO | Max) HBO in association with Sony Pictures Television Studios, PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Israel-Hamas War” (HBO | Max) HBO in association with Peyance Productions and Avalon Television
“Reality” (HBO | Max) HBO Films presents a Seaview and 2 Sq Ft production in association with Burn These Words, In The Cut Productions, Fit Via Vi, Cinereach, Tanbark Pictures
“Reservation Dogs” (FX) FX Productions
“Somebody Somewhere” (HBO | Max) HBO in association with Duplass Brothers Productions and The Mighty Mint
ARTS
“Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters” (World Channel and APT) Black Public Media and World Channel
“Judy Blume Forever” (Prime Video) Amazon MGM Studios, Imagine Documentaries
CHILDREN’S/YOUTH
“Bluey” (Disney+) Ludo Studio, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Studios
DOCUMENTARY
“20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS) Frontline/PBS, The Associated Press
“All That Breathes” (HBO | Max) HBO Documentary Films presents in association with Submarine Deluxe and Sideshow; a Kiterabbit Films and Rise Films production in collaboration with HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (HBO | Max) HBO Documentary Films presents a Participant and Neon presentation
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President” (National Geographic) Southern Films / Ventureland / National Geographic Documentary Films
“POV: While We Watched” (PBS) Britdoc Films, American Documentary | POV
“The Stroll” (HBO | Max) HBO Documentary Films
INTERACTIVE & IMMERSIVE
“The Hidden History of Racism in New York City” (Instagram) Gen Z Historian, Urbanist Live
“Pentiment” (Xbox, PC, PlayStation 4|5, and Nintendo Switch) Obsidian Entertainment
“We Are OFK” (PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Steam) OFK
“You Destroy. We Create | The war on Ukraine’s culture” (Meta Quest) NowHere Media
NEWS
“Against All Enemies” (NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth) NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth
“Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court” (PBS) Frontline/PBS
“Hate Comes to Main Street” (WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5) WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5
“It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive” (Al Jazeera Media Network) AJ+
“War in the Holy Land” (PBS NewsHour) PBS NewsHour, PBS News
PUBLIC SERVICE
“America and the Taliban” (PBS) Frontline/PBS
“The Post Roe Baby Boom: Inside Mississippi’s Maternal Health Crisis” (USA Today streaming channels) USA Today and The Tennessean
RADIO/PODCAST
“The Big Dig” (GBH-News) GBH-News and PRX
“The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop” (The Washington Post) The Washington Post
“Post Reports: Surviving to graduation” (The Washington Post) The Washington Post
“The Retrievals” (Serial Productions and The New York Times) Serial Productions and The New York Times
“You Didn’t See Nothin” (Invisible Institute and USG Audio) Invisible Institute and USG Audio
Source Agencies
