“Insecure,” “Handmaid’s Tale,” and More Nominated for Peabody Awards

Rachel Montpelier
Women and Hollywood
3 min readApr 11, 2018
“Insecure”

This is cause for a celebration: nominations for the 77th annual Peabody Awards have been announced and a wide range of projects by and about women are being recognized. Female-driven works such as “Insecure,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Motherland” — along with their fellow nominees — “represent the most compelling and empowering in electronic media,” Deadline stresses.

The Issa Rae co-created HBO comedy “Insecure” and Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” are nominated in the awards’ Entertainment category. Joining them are Gloria Calderon Kellet’s recently renewed family sitcom “One Day at a Time”; Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Golden Globe-winning portrait of a ’50s housewife breaking into stand-up comedy “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; and “Alias Grace,” another Atwood adaptation, this one from Sarah Polley and Mary Harron and centering on a 19th century murderess.

“Andi Mack,” the Disney Channel series about a young woman (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) who discovers a shocking family secret, is among the series nominated in the Children’s & Youth Programming competition. The show made history by being the first Disney series to feature an openly gay character in its main cast: the titular character’s friend Cyrus, played by Joshua Rush.

The Peabodys’ Documentary category boasts Ramona S. Diaz’s “Motherland” and Kim A. Snyder’s “Newtown” among its nominees. The former explores the day-to-day at the Philippines’ Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, one of the busiest maternity hospitals in the world. The latter chronicles the aftermath of the tragic 2012 Newtown, Connecticut shooting, which occurred at an elementary school. Also nominated is the Rita Coburn Whack co-directed “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” a deep dive into the life of the legendary writer and activist.

The Peabody winners will be announced by category over the next two weeks. The awards ceremony itself will take place May 19 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Women-centric and women-created Peabody nomination highlights are below. Head over to Deadline for the full list.

CHILDREN’S & YOUTH PROGRAMMING

Andi Mack
Horizon Productions
Disney Channel

DOCUMENTARY

Heroin(e)
A Netflix Original Documentary in association with The Center for Investigative Reporting, A Requisite Media Production
(Netflix)

I Have A Message For You
The New York Times Op-Docs
(The New York Times)

Indivisible
Fuse Media
(Fuse/Linear Broadcast)

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
The People’s Poet Media Group, LLC, Thirteen’s American Masters for WNET and ITVS in association with Artemis Rising
(PBS/WNET/TV)

Motherland
CineDiaz Inc., ITVS, American Documentary | POV
(PBS)

Newtown
Mile 22 LLC, ITVS, in association with KA Snyder Productions, Cuomo Cole Productions, Artemis Rising and Transform Films
(PBS)

Planet Earth II
BBC Studios Natural History Unit production, with BBC AMERICA
(BBC AMERICA)

The Bad Kids
Low Key Pictures in association with the Filmmaker Fund
(PBS)

Time: The Kalief Browder Story
Spike TV, The Cinemart, Roc Nation
(Spike)

ENTERTAINMENT

Alias Grace
A Halfire Entertainment Production in association with CBC for Netflix
(Netflix)

Insecure
HBO Entertainment in association with Issa Rae Productions
(HBO)

One Day at a Time
Sony Pictures Television for Netflix
(Netflix)

Star Trek: Discovery
CBS Television Studios
(CBS All Access)

The Good Place
Universal Television, Fremulon, 3 Arts Entertainment
(NBC)

The Handmaid’s Tale
Hulu, MGM, White Oak Pictures, The Littlefield Company, Daniel Wilson Productions
(Hulu)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Amazon Studios
(Amazon)

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