Category: News

Date: 13.04.2005
Printable version

BBC News has won a Peabody Award for its recent television coverage of the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The Peabody Award is widely regarded as the most prestigious award in electronic media, selecting outstanding works from over a thousand entries from the United States and around the world.

The judges included television critics, broadcasting industry executives and culture experts. They praised what they described as "searing reports from a team of BBC journalists who present and analyse the crisis situation".

The BBC had an extensive presence in Sudan during 2004. More than 25 BBC News teams filed despatches from Darfur and the refugee camps in neighbouring eastern Chad.

BBC News also received a News Event award from Britain's Royal Television Society for its coverage of the Darfur story in February 2005.

Its journalists were praised for producing in-depth coverage that kept the story at the top of the news agenda.

Head of BBC Newsgathering, Fran Unsworth, said: "We are delighted to have been given this important award. It recognises the value of a sustained commitment to a difficult and tragic story in a remote and generally under-reported region of the world."

A total of 32 Peabody Award winners were announced in a ceremony at New York's Museum of Television and Radio, including awards for BBC America's political thriller, State of Play, and the comedy chat show, The Kumars At No 42.

The awards will be presented at a special luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on Monday 16 May.