ATHENS, Ga. -- NBC's 'Hill Street Blues,' ABC News and former CBS News chief Bill Leonard have won broadcasting's coveted George Peabody Awards for 1981.
The awards, the most prestigious awards in broadcasting, are administered by the University of Georgia School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
University President Fred C. Davidson announced 25 winners Saturday night, chosen from 722 entries by the Peabody National Advisory Board.
The awards will be presented May 5 at the Hotel Pierre in New York City. Following is a list of the 1981 winners:
-NBC and MTM Enterprises, a joint award for 'Hill Street Blues,' as an 'outstanding example of excellent writing, excellent production and first-rate entertainment.'
-ABC News for three programs: 'Viewpoint,' 'Nightline' and 'America Held Hostage: The Secret Negotiations,' with special mention of the work of Ted Koppel.
-Bill Leonard, former President CBS News, New York, in recognition of his role in developing the CBS news organization, which is responsible for such programs as 'Sunday Morning,' 'CBS Reports: Defense of the United States' and 'CBS News Special: The Cowboy, the Craftsman and the Ballerina.'
-Danny Kaye, for 'An Evening with Danny Kaye and the New York Philharmonic; Zubin Mehta, Music Director,' produced by the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts for PBS, and for 'Skokie,' produced by Titus Productions for CBS.
-WJR Radio, Detroit, for 'Newsfile: A Bankrupt Court,' a series of 23 programs that resulted in significant reforms in Detroit's bankruptcy court system.
-The National Radio Theatre, Chicago, for 'The Odyssey of Homer,' a series of eight one-hour programs broadcast over 322 public and commercial stations and cable outlets.
-The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Vancouver, for 'Carl Sandburg at Connemara,' a program in the 'Signature' series, which depicted the 22 years Sandburg spent at his North Carolina home.
-Timothy and Susan Todd, Middlebury, Vt., for 'The Todd's Teddy Bears Picnic,' a radio series of 52 programs for children.
-WQDR-FM, Raleigh, N.C., for 'Our Forgotten Warriors: Vietnam Veterans Face the Challenges of the '80s,' a 32-part radio series intended to inform the public of the problems of Vietnam veterans.
-WLS-TV, Chicago, for 'Eyewitness News,' an invetigative reporting effort as exemplified in the segments 'Traffic Court: Justice of a Joke?' and 'So You Need a Driver's License.'
-John Goldsmith, WDVM-TV, Washington, for 'Now That We've Got Your Interest,' a year-end report which provided a 'humorous, yet perceptive' look at news events of 1981.
-The Nebraska Educational Television Network, for 'The Private History of A Campaign That Failed,' based on Mark Twain's brief and bitter stint in the Confederate militia.
-CBS-TV and Alan Landsburg Productions, for 'Bill,' a 'General Electric Theater' special, which starred Mickey Rooney as a mentally retarded adult.
-WNET-Thirteen, New York, and PBS, for 'Dance in America: Nureyev and the Joffrey Ballet: In Tribute to Nijinsky,' as an 'outstanding contribution to the arts in America.'
-KJRH-TV, Tulsa, Okla., for 'Project: China,' a program detailing an eight-week adventure in China by a group of Tulsa high school students.
-Home Box Office and Ms. Magazine, for 'She's Nobody's Baby: The History of American Women in the 20th Century,' a retrospective look at the emergence of American women and their changing roles in society. Thisis the first time in Peabody Award history that an award has been given for a television production meant for distribution by non-broadcast means.
-Societe Radio-Canada, Montreal, for 'Klimbo: Le Lion et la Souris,' (The Lion and the Mouse), as an 'outstanding example of televised programming for children.'
-ABC and T.A.T. Communications, for 'The Wave,' a presentation of the 'ABC Theater for Young Americans,' which 'vividly demonstrates how passions for an ideal outside the self can bind the masses.'
-WSMV, Nashville, for a series of television documentaries including 'Crime's Children,' 'Hot Cars, Cold Cash,' 'Split Second Justice' and 'Crime Carousel.'
-KATU-TV, Portland, Ore., for a series of documentaries including 'Ready on the Firing Line,' 'Out of the Ashes' and 'To Begin Again...'
-WGBH, Boston, and Granada TV, London, for 'The Red Army,' a program in the 'World' series that sought to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet military.
-The Eighth Decade Consortium, Seattle, Wash., for 'Fed Up With Fear,' a program on how people in five cities are acting against crime. This program involved five television stations: KOMO-TV, Seattle; KSTP-TV, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn; WCVB-TV, Boston; WJLA-TV, Washington, and WRAL-TV, Raleigh, N.C.
-- KTEH, San Jose, Calif., for 'The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb,' a recollection of Oppenheimer's contributions, a production by Jon Else.
