The Peabody Awards are heading back to Los Angeles, following last year’s long-awaited move to the City of Angels. After several attempts — delayed by the COVID pandemic, and then by the Hollywood strikes — the Peabodys finally made their move to the west coast in 2024, and this year the event will celebrate its 85th anniversary at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Jan. 1.
“Our 2024 debut in L.A. was a major success, and we look forward to continuing to introduce the wider Hollywood creative community to what makes Peabody the premier award for media that matters,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody. “In such polarized times, the stories that Peabody honors are unifying in their clear call to address injustices and see humanity in all its beauty and messiness. Honoring such programs remains our goal.”
Peabody, which is based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, honors programming in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, immersive and interactive media, and public service programming.
The org also named four new members to its board of jurors, including Variety chief correspondent Daniel D’Addario. Also added: Former “Nightline” co-anchor Cynthia McFadden, Vulture/New York magazine TV critic Roxana Hadadi and Michael X. Delli Carpini, the Oscar H. Gandy Emeritus Professor of Communication and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.
At Variety, D’Addario writes features and criticism; he was previously a TV critic at the publication, which he joined after a stint as TV critic at Time. Additionally, D’Addario is the author of the novel “The Talent.”
McFadden is also the former senior investigative and legal correspondent at NBC News. She has been received three Emmys, two Peabody Awards, an Edward R. Murrow award for hard news, the Overseas Press Club Award and a Loeb Award for business reporting. Hadidi is also a regular panelist on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, and has additionally written for the LA Times, GQ, Slate, The Washington Post and other publications. Delli Carpini previously served as dean at Penn’s Annenberg School, and was also director of the Public Policy Program of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Jurors are all appointed to six-year terms, and are a mix of “media industry professionals, as well asjournalists, critics and scholars.” Dr. Dana Heller, Dean of the College of Arts at Eastern Michigan University, is this year’s new Board of Jurors chair.
Additional members of the 2025 Board of Jurors include:• Manuel Betancourt, Contributing Editor, Film Quarterly; Film/TV Critic, CultureWriter• Doug Herzog, Former President of Viacom’s Music Entertainment Group• Michael Isip, President & CEO, KQED• Cynthia López, CEO of New York Women in Film & Television• Nicholas Quah, Podcast Critic, Vulture• Kent Rees, Industry Content and Marketing Strategist• Mark Rufein, Program Director of Real Jazz, SiriusXM Satellite Radio• Russ Schriefer, American Political and Corporate Strategist, and Media Consultant• Cynthia Tucker, Pulitzer Prize-winning Syndicated Columnist• Bonnie Turner, Veteran Film and Television Writer and Producer• Mark Whitaker, Former Managing Editor of CNN Worldwide, Washington BureauChief for NBC News and Editor of Newsweek• Andrea Wishom, President of Skywalker Holdings, LLC, and Former HarpoProductions Executive
2025 Peabody nominees will be announced in April, with winners announced in May. Bob Bain Prods. will produce the 2025 ceremony. Last year’s winners included “The Bear,” “Bluey,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Last of Us” and “Jury Duty.” Past Peabody Award winners include “Hill Street Blues,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Wire,” “Veep,” The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Office,” “Succession,” “Roots,” “Dopesick,” “Cosmos” and “Nova.”
