Andy DehnartBravo’s Project Runway became one of the first two reality series to receive a Peabody Award, which honors “the best in electronic media.” The University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, which gives the awards, explained the show’s win like this: “A series that redeems the reality-contest genre, this face-off competition among upstart fashion designers demands, displays and ultimately rewards creativity that can’t be bluffed.”
Although multiple news sources say that Runway is the first reality series to receive the award (Reuters, TV Guide, New York Magazine, another, albeit far less well-known reality series, also won an award this year. PBS’ kid Design Squad, a competition between young product designers, also received an award this year. It was recognized because the show “puts an educational emphasis into the reality-competition television format.”
The Discovery Channel’s documentary series Planet Earth also won a Peabody because it “documented the natural wonders of our world, some familiar, others never before seen, in stunning high-definition clarity.”