The Peabody Awards are expanding to include media that falls into immersive and interactive categories, such as video games and VR and AR experiences.
These experiences will be recognized in their own distinctive category, decided by the newly-formed Peabody Interactive Board featuring 10 experts across interactive and immersive media industries. The first set of awards will be given to “legacy media projects that demonstrate the depth of these new formats, emphasizing the foundational standards for future award winners and highlighting stories that have helped define the digital and interactive genres.”
These legacy winners will be decided and announced later in the year in a separate celebration from the regular Peabody Awards ceremony, which takes place each spring. The organization will also then announce details for future submission calendars, categories and eligibility.
Notable VR and AR members of the Peabody Interaction Board include Diana Williams (the chair), Amy Hennig, Kamal Sinclair and Sara Thacher.
Williams, among many other credits and experiences, was a member of the team that launched ILMxLAB, the studio behind VR experiences like Vader Immortal and Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge. Hennig is best known for her work creating the Uncharted series and is currently the President of the New Media division of Skydance. Skydance Interactive is of course the studio behind acclaimed VR title The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.
Sinclair is the co-author of Making a New Reality, a series of articles that examining diversity, equity and inclusion in emerging media such as VR and AR. Thacher is not linked directly to the VR or AR industries, but is an Imagineer at Disney theme parks and is working on immersive experiences as part of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which we described in early 2020 as the ‘ultimate VR’ and a ‘Westworld-like pinnacle of phsyical simulation’.
Stay tuned for more news on the first-ever Peabody Awards in immersive and interactive media later this year.
