Two Independent Lens Programs Win Peabody Awards

The George Foster Peabody Awards, administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious honors in electronic media. Among this year’s winners are two Independent Lens programs:

KING CORN, by Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, which follows two recent college graduates who embark on a mission to see where America’s food comes from–by growing it. In the rural town of Greene, Iowa, the two friends plant a single acre of the nation’s most powerful crop–corn–and then set out to track it from a seed to the dinner plate.

MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH: Terra Incognita, by Maria Finitzo, looks at Dr. Jack Kessler, a prominent neurologist, who shifts his diabetes research to stem cell research when his daughter is paralyzed from the waist down. MAPPING STEM CELL RESEARCH brings the stem cell debate to the forefront and examines the constantly evolving interplay between the promise of new discoveries, the controversy of modern science and the courage of people living with devastating disease and injury.

Congratulations to the filmmakers on this incredible achievement! The awards will be presented May 18 at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City with NBC’s Brian Williams as host.

Visit the Peabody Award website for a complete list of winners >>

Tags: corn, Peabody Awards, stem cells