The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/30/97 Section: Undefined Section

Interested students will soon have the chance to take part in the Peabody Awards, considered to be one of the most prestigious broadcast and cable honors. The awards have been admin- istered by the University's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication since 1940. Past winners include "The X-Files," "The Simpsons" and "NYPD Blue." A faculty committee will choose 15 to 20 students to be among the judges. Applications, which must be received by Oct. 10, are reviewed by the Peabody Awards Committee, and applicants are asked to view selected broadcasts and write short critiques. "Sometimes (students) see or hear what faculty members don't see," journalism professor Wally Eberhard said. Not only are students bringing their insights to the committees, but they're also helping them- selves. Student judging is "important for them because it helps develop their own critical skills," Eberhard said. "I think we've been very suc- cessful in getting high-quality students," Barry Sherman, direc- tor of the Peabody Awards and professor of telecommunications, said. Not only is it good experience for students, Sherman said, but being a student judge for the Peabody Awards also looks good on a résumé. One student is paired with two faculty members, and in February, each three-person com- mittee views 60 to 80 of the cable and broadcast entries. Only four to six of the pro- grams are "highly recommended" to the Peabody National Advisory Board for the final judging. Each student selected to be a judge receives a free ticket to the Peabody Awards luncheon on May 11 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City where the winning programs are presented with the Peabody Award. One of the student judges also will receive a free trip to New York to attend the luncheon and awards ceremony. Not only do student judges get to attend the award luncheon with all the stars, some students get to meet them, too. "I got to bring water to Lily Tomlin," Mary Jedlicka, a 1996 student judge and senior from Dunwoody, said. "("The Simpsons" creator) Matt Groening was drawing on the pro- gram cover, and so I've got an original Bart Simpson drawing too," she said. "Everyone was good about talk- ing to us when they could've just brushed us off," Yolanda Taylor, 1996 student judge and senior from Macon, said. "They were very inviting." Jedlicka said the application process and the judging of the contestants paid off. "It was a lot of hard work, but it was rewarding," she said.

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