Institutional Award: KOMO-TV for Excellence in local television programming as represented by “War on Children,” “Earth Agenda: Power of Bears,” “The Return of the Eagle,” and “Lolita: Spirit in the Water”

One goal of the Peabody Awards is to identify and recognize excellence in local television. Local service remains a fundamental and critical element of our system of broadcasting. Unfortunately, original local programming often seems to be a species as endangered as any explored by KOMO-TV in its outstanding Earth Agenda series. As demonstrated by these Peabody Award-winning programs, management of KOMO-TV is dedicated to local programming and has provided an atmosphere which fosters creativity and originality. The result is the kind of superior work evidenced by War on Children and Earth Agenda. The first program, a one-hour documentary, chronicles the horrific plight of innocent children in war-torn Bosnia. Producer/writer Elaine Purchase, executive producer Mark Stendal, director Charles O’Farrell and narrator/reporter Kathi Goertzen show us the destruction caused by warring Serbs, Muslims, and Croats, and the despair and resiliency of the children of the former Yugoslav republic. Earth Agenda is a lushly produced and critically important three-part documentary on the environment. Each hour, written and produced by Sharon Howard under the leadership of executive producer Mark Stendal, is marked by exceptional photography, superior scripting and editing, and captivating original music. As demonstrated by these two outstanding efforts, a Peabody for local programming excellence to KOMO-TV, Fisher Broadcasting, Seattle.