April 8, 2007 StoryCorps Project Wins Peabody Award

The StoryCorps Project, a national initiative encouraging Americans to record one another’s stories in sound, won a rare Institutional Award during the 66th annual Peabody Awards, administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The StoryCorps recordings, more than 9,000 interviews to date, are being archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

“This is an honor for the American Folklife Center and the Library,” said Peggy Bulger, director of the center. “We are pleased to see this important oral history project recognized for its significant contribution to electronic media.” StoryCorps was one of 35 recipients chosen as the best in electronic media for 2006. Other honorees included washingtonpost.com, NBC, ABC and HBO.

“I’m delighted that StoryCorps has been awarded a Peabody, and I’m so pleased to see the project being honored for its contribution to the field,” said project founder Dave Isay, who is no stranger to the honor. Over the past two decades, his radio documentary work has won four Peabody Awards.

StoryCorps is modeled—in spirit and in scope—after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930s, through which oral history interviews with everyday Americans across the country were recorded. These recordings, also at the American Folklife Center, remain the single most important collection of American voices gathered to date. For more information on StoryCorps, visit www.storycorps.net.

The Peabody Awards, the oldest honor in electronic media, recognize distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, producing organizations, cable television organizations and individuals. They are named after George Foster Peabody, a native Georgian, industrialist, financier and major benefactor of the University of Georgia. All entries become a permanent part of the Peabody Archive in the University of Georgia Libraries. For more information about the Peabody Archive or the Peabody Awards, visit www.peabody.uga.edu.

The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to preserve and present American folklife through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs and training. The Archive at the Folklife Center was established in 1928 and is now one of the largest collections of cultural heritage material from the United States and around the world. For more information about the American Folklife Center visit www.loc.gov/folklife.