This year’s Peabody Awards awards have been revealed, which has seen Disney pick up a number of them for it’s shows and documentaries across its many studios.

The Peabody Board of Jurors have given out 35 awards, that represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting, streaming, and interactive media during 2022. The winners were chosen by a unanimous vote of 32 jurors from over 1,400 entries from television, podcasts/radio and the web/digital in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service and interactive programming.

Disney’s studios picked up a number of awards, including:


“Fire of Love”  – Arts

The documentary Fire of Love centers on Katia and Maurice Krafft, French volcanologists bound by a mutual passion for the scientific study of active volcanoes. Directed by Sara Dosa, Fire of Love tells their story through the Kraffts’ own archive of images, featuring spectacular, up-close footage of volcanic eruptions taken by the couple as they relentlessly defy danger to gain proximity to ineluctable forces of nature. The result is at once an intimate portrait of an ordinary marriage and a celebration of scientific determination at its most extraordinary.

“Fire Of Love” is available to stream now on Disney+


“Aftershock”   – Documentary

Aftershock holds a mirror up to the country’s maternal-mortality crisis, presenting a sobering look at the deadly consequences of a medical system that routinely disregards Black women’s health. The documentary follows two families reeling from preventable deaths, tracing their ongoing journeys through grief and toward activism.

“Aftershock” is available to stream now on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ internationally.


“The Territory”   – Documentary

At the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people are fighting the encroaching deforestation that threatens not just their lives and livelihood but that of the entire globe. Their efforts are here captured by a documentary intent on amplifying their plight and uplifting the tireless work of activists and indigenous groups that refuse to capitulate to the capitalist violence inherent in seeing land not as something sacred but as something to be exploited for short-term gain.

“The Territory is available to stream now on Disney+


“Abbott Elementary” – Entertainment

Through deliciously funny, unfailingly thoughtful storylines, the mockumentary-style sitcom brings both depth and levity to its depiction of a grade school in Philadelphia, where a plucky group of educators work to ensure their students receive the best schooling possible, even as they face the kinds of challenges that are endemic to low-income districts. The show isn’t content to present funny scenarios absent any social context; Abbott Elementary insists on surfacing the structural issues that make its teachers’ work so hard.

“Abbot Elementary” is available to stream now on Hulu and HBO Max in the United States and on Disney+ around the world.


“Andor” – Entertainment

Few other long-running franchises loom as large in today’s contemporary pop cultural imagination than Star Wars. Yet amid stories of destiny-driven heroes and doomed superpowered villains, Tony Gilroy’s Andor tackles that familiar galaxy with plenty of spectacle, but also a keen-eyed commitment to mirroring our own mundane trials and tribulations as it follows scavenger Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who unwittingly becomes radicalized in the wake of a police state intent on crushing any and all signs of the Rebel Alliance.

“Andor” is available to stream now on Disney+


“Atlanta” — Entertainment

The experimental series, in which Donald Glover plays a shiftless Princeton dropout trying to manage his cousin’s burgeoning rap career, won a Peabody for its first season in 2016 for its sharp, evocative depiction of its eponymous city and the cast of characters making their way through it. Now, in its final seasons, the groundbreaking series has transcended its original success by introducing an anthology-style structure in Season 3 that deviates largely from the central cast, allowing the final two instalments of Atlanta to display a wealth of creativity and insight.

“Atlanta” is available to stream now on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ around the world.


“Bad Sisters” – Entertainment

On its face, Bad Sisters, the dark comedy from Catastrophe co-creator Sharon Horgan, is a whodunit about the death of John Paul Williams, a man who torments not only his wife, Grace, but also her four sisters. When the embattled quartet decides the only path to saving Grace from John Paul’s abuse is to kill him, they embark on a perilous, oft-thwarted journey, but the heart of the show is its keen, loving attention to relationships among women.

“Bad Sisters” is made by ABC Signature and is available to stream now on Apple TV+


Entertainment programming was particularly strong in 2022, which led all categories with 10 wins, followed by 8 for documentaries and 7 for news. Entertainment winners Atlanta and Better Call Saul, which previously won Peabodys for their first season, are both receiving a second Peabody for their final season.

This year’s winners encompass a wide range of pressing issues across categories, such as the environment: Fire of Love (arts), The Territory (documentary), and The Power of Big Oil (public service); mental health: The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect (news) and Life Is Strange: True Colors (interactive); women’s reproductive rights: This American Life: The Pink House at the Center of the World (podcast) and Aftershock (documentary); and transgender rights: We’re Here (entertainment) and ContraPoints (interactive). News winners this year covered subjects such as the gun violence epidemic in America, women’s rights under the Taliban, the war in Ukraine, and extremist threats to democracy, while documentary winners such as Batata and Independent Lens: Missing in Brooks County highlighted migrant struggles.

Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody said in a statement:

“Representing a wide range of mediums, genres, and narrative approaches, this year’s winners continue to advance what it means to craft storytelling that is compelling, powerful, and prescient.  Whether capturing the lives of teachers in Philadelphia or young women in Afghanistan, these stories are powerful enough to make us laugh, cry, and learn. They are all deserving of this honor, and we are thrilled to shine a light on their amazing achievement. All citizens should seek out, watch, and engage these winners.”

The winners of the 83rd annual Peabody Awards will be celebrated on Sunday, 11th June 2023 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. This will be Peabody’s first in-person ceremony since 2019, as well as the first time ever in its history that the Awards will take place in Los Angeles.

 

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Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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