# List of Peabody Award winners (1980–1989)

The following is a list of Peabody Award winners and honorable mentions during the 1980s (1980–1989).

## 1980

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| ABC | IBM Presents Baryshnikov on Broadway, directed by Dwight Hemion |
| ABC | Amber Waves (an ABC Sunday Night Movie directed by Joseph Sargent) |
| BBC Television | All Creatures Great and Small |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | The Wonderful World of Science, a radio show for elementary-age children on earth, water, fire, air and man. |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Peniel |
| CBS Entertainment | Gideon's Trumpet |
| CBS Entertainment | Playing for Time |
| CBS News | Universe, a science program hosted by Walter Cronkite |
| Walter Cronkite | Personal Award for his career in broadcast journalism |
| Phil Donahue | Personal Award for his interview work on Donahue |
| Elaine Green (WCPO-TV/Cincinnati, OH) | Personal Award for her interview with a gunman and admitted murderer who instigated a hostage crisis in the WCPO-TV studios |
| KCET-TV/Los Angeles, Adrian Malone, and Dr. Carl Sagan | Cosmos |
| KQED-TV/San Francisco, CA | Broken Arrow: Can a Nuclear Weapons Accident Happen Here?, produced by Stephen Talbot and Jonathan Dann |
| KTEH-TV/San Jose, CA, Carol Mon Pere, and Sandra Nichols | The Battle of Westlands, a profile of the conflict between agri-business giants and small farmers in California's Central Valley |
| KUED-TV/Salt Lake City, UT and Thirteen/WNET/New York, NY | "The MX Debate," an episode of Bill Moyers' Journal on the MX missile |
| Maryland Instructional Television | Terra: Our World |
| Minnesota Public Radio | A Prairie Home Companion |
| National Geographic Society and WQED-TV/Pittsburgh, PA | The National Geographic Specials (featuring Mysteries of the Mind, The Superliners: Twilight of an Era, The Invisible World, and Dive to the Edge of Creation) |
| National Public Radio | Jazz Alive! |
| NBC Radio | The Hallelujah Caucus, an examination of the influence of conservative religion on American politics and society, on The Source |
| NBC and Paramount Television | Shōgun |
| Mary Nissenson (WTVJ-TV/Miami, FL) | Personal Award for Poland: A Changing Nation (parts 1 and 2-4) |
| Carroll O'Connor | Personal Award for the "Archie Alone" episode of Archie Bunker's Place, which dealt with Archie's grief over the death of wife Edith |
| Public Broadcasting Service and Robert Geller | The American Short Story |
| San Francisco Opera | The San Francisco Opera Radio Broadcasts |
| Sol Taishoff | Personal Award for his reportage and critiques on events in radio and television (Taishoff was a co-founder, editor, and publisher of Broadcasting magazine) |
| Studs Terkel | Personal Award for his work at WFMT/Chicago, IL |
| WNCN/New York, NY | Institutional Award for overall performance as exemplified by Conversations with Horowitz |

## 1981

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| Bill Leonard | Personal Award for Leonard's role "in developing the strong CBS News organization" |
| Danny Kaye | Personal Award for Kaye's work on An Evening with Danny Kaye and The New York Philharmonic (an episode of Live from Lincoln Center) and Skokie |
| WSMV-TV/Nashville, TN | Institutional Award for WSMV's documentary work, citing "Crime's Children," "Hot Cars, Cold Cash," "Split Second Justice" and "Crime's Carousel" |
| KATU-TV/Portland, OR | Institutional Award for KATU's documentary work, citing "Ready on the Firing Line," "Out of the Ashes," and "To Begin Again" |
| WJR/Detroit, MI | "Newsfile: A Bankrupt Court", a series of reports probing the inner workings of the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court |
| National Radio Theatre | The Odyssey of Homer |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Carl Sandburg at Connemara |
| Timothy and Susan Todd (aired on NPR) | The Todds' Teddy Bears Picnic |
| WQDR-FM/Raleigh, NC | Our Forgotten Warriors: Vietnam Veterans Face the Challenges of the '80s |
| WLS-TV/Chicago, IL | Award for WLS' Eyewitness News, citing the reports "Traffic Court: Justice or a Joke?" and "So You Need A Driver's License" |
| WDVM-TV/Washington, DC and John Goldsmith | Now That We've Got Your Interest |
| NBC and MTM Enterprises | Hill Street Blues |
| Nebraska Educational Television Network and The Great Amwell Company | The Private History of a Campaign That Failed |
| CBS and Alan Landsburg Productions | Bill |
| WNET/New York, NY and PBS | Dance in America: Nureyev and The Joffrey Ballet/In Tribute to Nijinsky |
| KJRH-TV/Tulsa, OK | Project: China |
| Home Box Office and Ms. Magazine | She's Nobody's Baby: The History of American Women in the 20th Century (the first Peabody awarded to a cable program) |
| Societe Radio-Canada | Klimbo: Le Lion et La Souris (The Lion and the Mouse) |
| ABC News | Award for Viewpoint, Nightline, and America Held Hostage: The Secret Negotiations |
| ABC and T.A.T. Communications | The Wave |
| WGBH-TV/Boston, MA and Granada TV | The Red Army |
| Eighth Decade Consortium (KOMO-TV, Seattle, WA, KSTP-TV/St. Paul, MN, WCVB-TV/Boston, MA, WJLA-TV/Washington, DC, and WRAL-TV/Raleigh, NC) | Fed Up with Fear |
| KTEH-TV/San Jose, CA | The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb |

## 1982

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| Alistair Cooke | Personal Award "for his contributions to broadcasting, both in the United States and in Great Britain" |
| Texaco, Inc., The Texaco Foundation, and Metropolitan Opera Association | Institutional Award for opera presentations on radio and TV |
| National Public Radio | The Sunday Show |
| National Public Radio | Taylor Made Piano: A Jazz History |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Morningside, for "1905" |
| WMAL/Washington, DC | "They Served With Honor," recollections of those who served in the Vietnam War |
| NBC Radio News | Banks on the Brink, a Second Sunday report on the international banking crisis |
| Mutual Broadcasting System | Larry King Show |
| Radio Foundation | The Bob and Ray Public Radio Show |
| KOCO-TV/Oklahoma City, OK | "Oklahoma Shame," an investigation into abuses and deaths in homes for mentally retarded residents run by the state's Department of Health Services |
| WCVB-TV/Boston, MA | Ground Zero: Victory Road |
| KYW-TV/Philadelphia, PA | Sweet Nothing, a documentary exploring "our society's excessive consumption of sugar" |
| BBC Television, Paramount Television, and Operation Prime Time | Smiley's People |
| WWL-TV/New Orleans, LA | The Search for Alexander |
| Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment | Award for Nickelodeon and the network's programming for children |
| NBC, Margie-Lee Enterprises, and The Blue Marble Company, in association with ITC Productions, Inc. | Skeezer (an NBC Monday Movie) |
| NBC and Highgate Pictures | The Electric Grandmother |
| NBC News | The Man Who Shot the Pope: A Study in Terrorism |
| ABC News | ABC News Closeup: Vietnam Requiem |
| CBS News | Juilliard and Beyond: A Life in Music |
| CBS Entertainment and Cinetex International | The Wall |
| WQED-TV/Pittsburgh, PA | Firebird, produced by the Dance Theatre of Harlem |
| KQED-TV/San Francisco, CA | Current Affairs: The Case of Dashiell Hammett, a documentary on Dashiell Hammett directed by Stephen Talbot |
| KGMB-TV/Honolulu, HI and Lee Productions Inc. | Beyond the Great Wall: Journey to the End of China |
| WAGA-TV/Atlanta, GA | Paradise Saved? a documentary examining the effect of tourists on Cumberland Island National Seashore, reported by Don Smith and Forrest Sawyer |
| WBBM-TV/Chicago, IL | "Killing Crime: A Police Cop-out," an investigation into the erasure of Chicago crime reports in order to create a decrease in crime statistics |
| WTSP/St Petersburg, FL | "Prisoners of the Harvest," an investigation into the kidnapping, enslavement, and abuse of migrant farm workers by a farm labor contractor |
| Daniel Wilson Productions and Taurus Films | Blood and Honor: Youth Under Hitler |
| Television Corporation of America | 784 Days That Changed America: From Watergate to Resignation |

## 1983

| Recipient | Area of excellence |
| Don McGannon | Personal Award for his work at Westinghouse Broadcasting Corp. |
| CNN | Institutional Award for the network's "significant news and information programming", citing Crossfire and the work of Daniel Schorr and Sandi Freeman |
| The Grand Ole Opry and WSM/Nashville, TN | Institutional Award for the Opry's "important mark on both music and [through WSM] broadcasting in this country" |
| WCCO Radio/Minneapolis, MN | "Debbie Pielow: Waiting for a Heart That Never Came," a series of reports on a Minnesota woman's efforts to receive a heart transplant |
| WCCO-TV/Minneapolis, MN | "I-TEAM: Ambulances," a report documenting less‑than‑satisfactory performances by some Twin Cities ambulance services, with reporting by Don Shelby (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) |
| South Carolina Educational Radio Network | Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz |
| WMAL/Washington, DC | The Jeffersonian World of Dumas Malone |
| KMOX/St. Louis, MO | Times Beach: Born 1925, Died 1983, a series examining of the effects of dioxin on the Missouri town, recognizing the work of the contributions of general manager Robert Hyland, news director John Angelides, producers David St. John and Kent Martin, and narrator Bob Hardy |
| Thomas Looker | New England Almanac: Portraits in Sound of New England Life and Landscape, produced at WFCR and distributed by NPR |
| WRAL-FM/Raleigh, NC | Victims |
| WNBC-TV/New York, NY | Asylum in the Streets, which examined the effects of de-institutionalization on mentally ill homeless, citing the reporting of Gabe Pressman |
| CBS News | The Plane That Fell From the Sky, a CBS Reports documentary recounting the near-crash of a TWA jet in April 1979 (Bill Kurtis, correspondent) |
| CBS News | 60 Minutes, for the report "'Lenell Geter's in Jail," which examined a Texas man's conviction for armed robbery (citing the work of executive producer Don Hewitt, producer Suzanne St. Pierre, and correspondent Morley Safer) |
| CBS Entertainment and Smith-Hemion Productions | Romeo and Juliet on Ice, starring Dorothy Hamill, Brian Pockar, and Toller Cranston and directed by Robert Iscove. |
| CBS Entertainment and Mendelson-Melendez Productions | What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? |
| Chrysalis-Yellen Productions and NBC | Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number |
| NBC and Motown Productions | Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever |
| NBC and Edgar J. Scherick Associates | He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' |
| WTTW-TV/Chicago, IL | The Merry Widow, a ballet adaptation of the operetta choreographed by Ruth Page and starring Peter Martins and Patricia McBride |
| WTTW-TV/Chicago, IL and BBC | The Making of a Continent, narrated by Marty Robinson (parts 1, 2 (reels 1 and 2), and 3) |
| WTBS-TV/Atlanta, GA | Portrait of America, including episodes on Puerto Rico and Florida |
| WGBH-TV/Boston, MA | Nova: The Miracle of Life |
| WGBH-TV/Boston, MA, Central Independent Television, and Antenne 2 | Vietnam: A Television History |
| Sunbow Productions | The Great Space Coaster |
| ABC and Dick Clark Productions | The Woman Who Willed a Miracle |
| WBBM-TV/Chicago, IL | Studebaker: Less Than They Promised, a documentary profiling the automobile manufacturer and the effects of its business, decline, and closure, narrated by Walter Jacobson |
| WBRZ-TV/Baton Rouge, LA | Give Me That Bigtime Religion, a profile of Jimmy Swaggart by John Camp later aired on PBS's Frontline |
| KRON-TV/San Francisco, CA | Climate of Death |
| KCTS/Seattle, WA | Diagnosis: AIDS |

## 1984

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| ABC | Heartsounds |
| ABC News | ABC News Closeup: To Save Our Schools, To Save Our Children, hosted by Marshall Frady |
| Roone Arledge | Personal Award for Arledge's leadership at ABC News and Sports and for his contributions to and influence on TV in general |
| Ted Koppel | Personal Award for Koppel's work on ABC News' Nightline |
| KNX/Los Angeles | Award for KNX's reports on "The Immigration Problem" |
| WAFX/Fort Wayne, IN | D-Day: 40 Years Later |
| Brigham Young University | Bradbury 13 (distributed by NPR) |
| WNYC/New York, NY | Small Things Considered |
| Protestant Radio and Television Center | The Protestant Hour |
| KDFW-TV/Dallas, TX | "A Call for Help," a series of reports revealing deficiencies in the handling of EMS emergency calls, featuring the reporting of Fred Mays and Clarice Tinsley |
| WMAQ-TV/Chicago, IL | "Political Parasites," which revealed "deadwood" Illinois State Legislature committees and commissions, their purposes and costs |
| WDVM-TV/Washington, DC | Award for the station's investigation into malpractice and unsafe abortions at a clinic run by Dr. Milan Vuitch |
| WCAX-TV/Burlington, VT | "Patterns of Practice," an investigation into varied efficiency levels of Vermont hospitals in regards to surgical procedures and patient stays |
| KGW-TV/Portland, OR | Award for reports on followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and how their settlement affected life in Central Oregon |
| WNET/New York, NY | Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (narrated by Abba Eban) |
| WNET/New York, NY | The Brain, produced by George Page |
| MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, WNET/New York, NY, WETA-TV/Washington, DC, and Gannett Productions | Award for NewsHour essays by Roger Rosenblatt |
| Corporation for Entertainment and Learning Inc., WNET/New York, NY, and KQED/San Francisco, CA | A Walk Through the 20th Century With Bill Moyers, hosted by Bill Moyers |
| WCCO-TV/Minneapolis, MN | The Hollow Victory: Vietnam Under Communism, a documentary that examined life in the South Asian nation, hosted by Dave Moore |
| WGBH-TV/Boston, MA | Award to Frontline "for its total contribution to the world of exceptional television" |
| CBS Entertainment and The David Gerber Company | George Washington |
| NBC and MTM Enterprises | St. Elsewhere |
| Central Independent Television | Seeds of Despair, a documentary revealing the drought and famine in Ethiopia |
| Turner Broadcasting System | Cousteau/Amazon |
| Granada Television | The Jewel in the Crown |
| KFGO/Fargo, ND | Award for the station's "extraordinary emergency coverage" of a February 4, 1984 blizzard |
| Showtime | Faerie Tale Theatre |
| WCVB-TV/Boston, MA | Somerville High |
| WFMT/Chicago, IL and Raymond Nordstrand | Institutional Award for WFMT's fine arts programming |

## 1985

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| Bob Geldof and Live Aid | Personal Award for Geldof's efforts to aid famine victims in Ethiopia through the concert event |
| Johnny Carson | Personal Award for Carson's work on The Tonight Show |
| WBZ-TV/Boston, MA | Tender Places a short drama about divorce, starring Frederick Koehler and Jean Stapleton, written by the 13-year-old Jason Brown |
| KDKA-TV/Pittsburgh, PA | Second Chance, a documentary and follow-up public service campaign promoting organ donations and transplants |
| Lawrence Fraiberg | Personal Award to the head of Westinghouse Broadcasting's stations division for his "mandate to serve the public interest" |
| WBUR-FM/Boston, MA | Liberation Remembered, a documentary produced by Eileen Bolinsky and written by Anne McGrath about the liberation of Nazi concentration camps |
| WGBH-FM/Boston, MA | Institutional Award for WGBH's "overall programming and its leadership in state-of-the-art broadcasting" |
| WGBH-TV/Boston, MA and The Blackwell Corporation | Frontline, for "Crisis in Central America" (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4), a documentary about the Central American crisis produced by Judith Vecchione, Marilyn Mellowes, Martin Smith, and Huston Simmons |
| WHAS/Louisville, KY | Down and Outside: On the Streets of Louisville, a story on homelessness reported by Mike Edgerly and Ralph Dix |
| CBS News | The Number Man — Bach at Three Hundred, a radio documentary narrated by Charles Osgood |
| CBS News | Whose America Is It? (Bill Moyers, correspondent) |
| CBS Entertainment and Dave Bell Productions | Do You Remember Love |
| Marjorie Van Halteren | Breakdown and Back, a Van Halteren-produced radio series on mental illness |
| WCCO-TV/Minneapolis, MN | "I-Team" investigation into abuses and shortcomings in the home health care industry |
| MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour | "Apartheid's People," a series by Charlayne Hunter-Gault examining daily life in South Africa |
| NBC | An Early Frost |
| NBC News | Vietnam Ten Years After, reported by Marvin Kalb, John Hart, Bryant Gumbel, and Garrick Utley |
| KGO-TV/San Francisco, CA | The American West: Steinbeck Country, with Rip Torn as Steinbeck |
| KDTV-TV/San Francisco, CA | Coverage of the Mexico City earthquake |
| Spinning Reels and HBO | Braingames |
| WSMV-TV/Nashville, TN | A Higher Standard, a documentary focusing on the relationship between Congressman Bill Boner and an influential defense contractor |
| TV Ontario | The Final Chapter?, a documentary made with NHK, Sveriges Television, and Technisonor about nuclear warfare and nuclear winter |
| Harvey Milk Project, Inc. and WNET/New York, NY | The Times of Harvey Milk |
| Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, WQED-TV/Pittsburgh, PA, WNET/New York, NY, Bonneville Broadcast Group, and PBS | Seminars on Media and Society, produced by Betsy Miller and Cynthia McFadden |
| WBBM-TV/Chicago, IL | "Armed and Dangerous," an investigation exposing armed, unlicensed, and unqualified security guards working in the Chicago area |
| Central Independent Television and WETA-TV/Washington, DC | The Skin Horse, a documentary directed by Nigel Randell Evans and John Samson about sexuality and disability |
| Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts | Live from Lincoln Center |

## 1986

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| Jim Henson and The Muppets | Personal Award for "thirty years of good, clean fun and outstanding entertainment" |
| Dorothy Stimson Bullitt | Personal Award to the founder of King Broadcasting Company |
| The Fine Arts Society of Indianapolis | Institutional Award for the Society's funding and production of arts programming on WICR/Indianapolis, IN |
| NBC | The Cosby Show |
| NBC News | Award for on-the-scene radio reports by Fred Kennedy and Philip Till on the U.S. bombing raid of Tripoli, Libya |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Paris: From Oscar Wilde to Jim Morrison |
| Connecticut Public Radio | One On One (hosted by Faith Middleton) |
| CBS News | NEWSMARK: Where in the World Are We? |
| CBS News | Sunday Morning, for its presentation of Vladimir Horowitz's concert in Moscow |
| CBS News | CBS Reports: The Vanishing Family - Crisis in Black America |
| CBS Entertainment and Garner-Duchow Productions | Promise |
| WTMJ-TV/Milwaukee, WI | "Who's Behind the Wheel?" a report that revealed poor safety records among Milwaukee school bus drivers |
| WHAS/Louisville, KY | A Disaster Called Schizophrenia |
| WFAA/Dallas, TX | Award for reports uncovering the Southern Methodist University football scandal |
| KPIX-TV/San Francisco, CA | Award for KPIX's "AIDS Lifeline" project |
| MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and BBC | The Story of English |
| WQED-TV/Pittsburgh, PA | Anne of Green Gables |
| WQED-TV/Pittsburgh, PA and National Geographic Society | National Geographic Specials |
| Churchill Films and ABC Television Entertainment | The Mouse and the Motorcycle |
| ABC News | This Week with David Brinkley |
| Thames Television International and D.L. Taffner, Ltd. | Unknown Chaplin (presented on American Masters) |
| John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts | The 1986 Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts |
| Thames Television and WGBH-TV/Boston, MA | Paradise Postponed (presented on Masterpiece Theatre) |
| WSB-TV/Atlanta, GA | The Boy King, a film about the young Martin Luther King Jr. |
| WCCO-TV and WCCO Radio/Minneapolis, MN | Project Lifesaver, an initiative to promote safe driving |
| WCVB-TV/Boston, MA | A World of Difference, an initiative to combat prejudice of all kinds |

## 1987

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| WSMV/Nashville, TN | 4 the Family, a series of family-themed specials and PSAs |
| CKVU-TV/Vancouver, BC | AIDS and You |
| HBO | America Undercover: Drunk and Deadly |
| Center for New American Media | American Tongues |
| CNN | Coverage of the 1987 stock market crash |
| Mutual Broadcasting System | Charities That Give and Take |
| KQED-TV/San Francisco, CA in Association with El Teatro Campesino | Corridos! Tales of Passion and Revolution |
| WRC-TV/Washington, DC | "Deadly Mistakes," a report exposing inaccurate lab results of cancer patients |
| WCPO-TV/Cincinnati, OH | Investigation into questionable deaths at Drake Hospital |
| ABC Radio News | Earnest Will: Americans in the Gulf |
| Blackside, Inc. | Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years |
| Hallmark Hall of Fame and CBS | Institutional Award for Hall of Fame, specifically citing Pack of Lies and Foxfire |
| WCVB-TV/Boston, MA | "Inside Bridgewater," an investigation into occurrences at a state hospital for the criminally insane |
| MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour | Award for a series of reports on Japan's economy |
| Karl Haas | Personal Award for his work as a pianist and conductor and for work on Adventures in Good Music |
| Kevin Brownlow, and David Gill | Personal Awards for their work in the preservation of silent films |
| KPAL Radio/Little Rock, AR | Organizational Award for its overall programming for children |
| NBC | L.A. Law |
| NBC and Louis Rudolph Films | LBJ: The Early Years |
| HBO | Mandela |
| WNET/New York City | Nature, for the episode "A Season in the Sun" |
| WNET/New York City | Shoah |
| WGBH-TV/Boston, MA and KCET-TV/Los Angeles | NOVA, for the episode "Spy Machines" |
| WSM/Nashville, TN | Of Violence and Victims, an investigation into the increase in Nashville's crime rate |
| National Public Radio | A Weekend Edition profile of Ryan Martin, a 13-year-old boy adapting to his paralysis, the result of a shooting incident |
| WXXI-TV/Rochester, NY | Safe Haven |
| Long Bow Group Inc., New York, New York | Small Happiness: Women of a Chinese Village |
| KNBC/Los Angeles | Some Place Like Home, a profile of Providence House, an AIDS hospice in the Los Angeles area |
| Paramount Pictures Corporation | Star Trek: The Next Generation, for the episode "The Big Goodbye" |

## 1988

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| WTTW-TV/Chicago in association with Chloe Productions, Inc. | ...and the Pursuit of Happiness |
| Children's Television Workshop | 3-2-1 Contact Extra: I Have AIDS, A Teenager's Story |
| CBS News | 48 Hours, for the reports "Abortion Battle" and "On Runaway Street" |
| CBS News | 60 Minutes, for the report "Mr. Snow Goes to Washington," which highlighted a campaign on the dangers of lawn darts |
| WHAS/Louisville | A Matter of Time: The Crisis in Kentucky Corrections |
| Public Affairs Television Inc. | Bill Moyers' World of Ideas |
| WPLG-TV/Miami, FL | "Caution: Precious Cargo," a report that highlighted low levels of school bus safety, including bus lines that operated unlicensed |
| South Carolina Educational Television and The Mosaic Group, Inc. | Children's Express NEWSMAGAZINE: Campaign '88 |
| National Public Radio | Cowboys on Everest |
| HBO | Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam |
| Don Hewitt | Personal Award for his work at CBS News |
| The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (WNET/New York & WETA-TV/Washington) | Coverage of the 1988 election campaign |
| Frontline and Time Inc. | Frontline: The Choice |
| KMOX/St. Louis | Hate Crimes: America's Cancer |
| Christian Science Monitor Reports | Islam in Turmoil |
| Jim McKay | Personal Award for his work at ABC Sports |
| KCBS-TV/Los Angeles | "MCA and the Mob," a series of reports revealing organized crime connections to the media conglomerate |
| BBC World Service for Africa | Nothing Political/Mandela at 70 |
| WBUR-FM/Boston, MA | Speaking for Everyman: Ian McKellen Celebrates Shakespeare's Birthday |
| HBO and Pro Image Productions/Sydney, Australia | Suzi's Story |
| CBS Entertainment and Telecom Entertainment, in association with Yorkshire Television | The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank |
| WBRZ-TV/Baton Rouge, LA | "The Best Insurance Commissioner Money Can Buy," an investigation of alleged improprieties on the part of the Insurance Commissioner of the State of Louisiana |
| KTAR/Phoenix | Coverage of the impeachment of Arizona governor Evan Mecham |
| TNT | The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind |
| NBC | The Murder of Mary Phagan |
| WJLA-TV/Washington, D.C. | "The Radon Watch Campaign," a series of reports and PSAs |
| BBC and WNET/New York | The Singing Detective |
| ABC and The Bedford Falls Company in association with MGM/UA Television | thirtysomething |
| Ambassador Walter Annenberg | Personal Award for his work in public broadcasting, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting/Annenberg Project's funding of programs such as The Brain, The Constitution: That Delicate Balance, and Planet Earth |

## 1989

| Recipient | Area of Excellence |
| David Brinkley | Personal Award for Brinkley's "lifetime of service to the American people" at NBC News and ABC News |
| J. Leonard Reinsch | Personal Award for Reinsch's work at COX Communications and in political communication |
| KCBS/San Francisco, CA | Separate awards for the stations' coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake and its aftermath |
| KGO-TV/San Francisco, CA | Separate awards for the stations' coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake and its aftermath |
| KRON-TV/San Francisco, CA | I Want to Go Home, an account of the plight of homeless children in the San Francisco area |
| D. Roberts | Award to the independent producer for "Mei Mei: A Daughter's Song," which aired on American Public Radio's Soundprint and told of the personal and cultural boundaries between a Taiwanese mother and her American daughter |
| WCSC-TV/Charleston, SC | Award for the station's coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo |
| MTV Networks | Decade |
| KING-TV/Seattle, WA | Project Home Team, a series of reports and programs spotlighting the plight of the working poor |
| CBS and Motown-Pangaea Productions in association with Qintex Entertainment | Lonesome Dove |
| KCNC-TV/Denver, CO | Yellowstone: Four Seasons After Fire |
| Texaco | Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts |
| ABC and Black/Marlens Company in association with New World Television | The Wonder Years |
| ABC and Sacret Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television | China Beach, for the episode "Vets" |
| ABC, Lou Rudolph Films, Motown Productions, Allarcom Ltd., and Fries Entertainment | Small Sacrifices |
| Alvin H. Perlmutter, Inc. and Public Affairs Television, Inc. | The Public Mind |
| CBS Radio News | Separate awards for the networks' coverage of the protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and related background and perspective reportage |
| CNN | Separate awards for the networks' coverage of the protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and related background and perspective reportage |
| NBC News | To Be an American |
| Central Independent Television | Cambodia Year Ten |
| Beyond International Group | The Great Wall of Iron |
| HBO | Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt |
| Children's Television Workshop | Sesame Street (winning the award for the second time, a rare feat) |
| Film News Now and WTVS/Detroit, MI in association with P.O.V. | Who Killed Vincent Chin? |
| National Public Radio | Award for Scott Simon's essays on Weekend Edition |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Lost Innocence: The Children of World War II |
| WLOX-TV/Biloxi, MS | "Did They Die in Vain?" which explored the lingering effects of the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Neshoba County, Mississippi 25 years after the tragedy |