Star Trek Wins Peabody Institutional Award

The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors today announced the 34 winners elected to represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and streaming media during 2023. The winners were chosen by a unanimous vote of 32 jurors from over 1,100 entries from television, podcasts/radio, and the web/digital in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children's/youth, public service, and interactive programming.

Peabody also announced that Star Trek, the beloved science fiction franchise, has won the Institutional Award. The Institutional Award recognizes institutions and organizations, as well as series and programs, for their enduring body of work and their lasting impact on the media landscape and the public imagination.

The Institutional Award – Star Trek

The original Star Trek television series aired on NBC for only three seasons, from September 1966 to June 1969. It was fresh, prescient, and so ahead of its time that it couldn't quite capture the mainstream audience required for hits during a particularly insipid time in television. But fast forward nearly 60 years, and creator Gene Roddenberry's vision is alive and well, having spawned a media franchise of 13 feature films, 11 television series, and numerous books and comics, with a legendary fan following. Today Star Trek is more vibrant, imaginative, funny, entertaining, and progressive than ever. And these days, we’ve got the special effects to make it look stellar.

The original science-fiction series was set aboard a starship, Enterprise, whose mostly human crew encountered alien life as they traversed the stars, led by the iconic Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). It was groundbreaking for its diverse cast and for its unapologetically progressive values — exploration over colonialism, cooperation over violence. Its fandom grew over time, and the successors to the original series have updated the franchise without losing its moral core — the dream of a future free from human destruction, poverty, and bigotry. Subsequent captains have served as models of ethical and diverse leadership: The Next Generation's Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Deep Space Nine's Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), and Voyager's Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) among them.

With every passing decade, new versions have proliferated, attracting new generations of fans. Film reboots directed by J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin revived Kirk and his crew with new, young actors, zippier dialogue, and vastly improved effects in the 2000s and 2010s. The Streaming Era has brought a raft of reimaginings with a variety of sensibilities, from the dark and complicated Star Trek: Discovery to the crowd-pleasing prequel Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to the hilariously meta cartoon Star Trek: Lower Decks. As the latest versions of Star Trek invite in a new generation of viewers, the interstellar travelers still encounter danger and difficulty, of course. But the Starfleet crew always comes out on top — and without sacrificing essential values that seem quintessentially human: valor, self-sacrifice, curiosity, compassion, broadmindedness.

"Whether courageously documenting wars across the globe or cleverly bringing much needed smiles to our faces, the winners of the 84th Peabody Awards each crafted compelling and imaginative stories," said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody. "Spanning a wide range of mediums and genres, they delivered enthralling projects that are worthy of our highest recognition."

"From a groundbreaking television series to an expansive collection of films, novels, comic books and so much more, Star Trek has been delivering joy, wonder, and thought-provoking stories since the 1960s," said Jones. "With powerful anti-war and anti-discrimination messages, it has blazed trails for all science fiction franchises while winning over passionate fans across the globe. We’re proud to honor Star Trek with Peabody's Institutional Award."

Recent winners of the Institutional Award include TODAY, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, ARRAY, The Simpsons, 60 Minutes, Sesame Street, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Kartemquin Films, FRONTLINE, and ITVS.

The Peabody Awards, hosted by Kumail Nanjani, will be held June 9 in Beverly Hills. Find all the details and full winners list here.