Peabody Award

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Peabody Award

Awarded for	Excellence in radio and/or television broadcasting
Presented by	Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia
Country	United States
First awarded	1940

The George Foster Peabody Awards, better known as simply the Peabody Awards, are annual, international awards for excellence in radio and television broadcasting. First awarded in 1941 for programs from the previous year, they are considered the oldest honors in electronic media. The awards are administered by the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia (UGA). The awards are named after the businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody. As part of his philanthropic activities, Peabody donated the funds that created the awards. Lambdin Kay, public-service director for WSB radio in Atlanta, Georgia at the time, is credited for creating the award.

The Peabody Awards are generally regarded as the most prestigious awards honoring distinction and achievement in America within the fields of broadcast journalism, documentary film making, educational programming, children's programming, and entertainment.

The Peabody Awards were originally only for radio, but in 1948, television awards were introduced. In the late 1990s additional categories for material distributed via the World Wide Web were added. Materials created solely for theatrical motion picture release are not eligible.