TV & VIDEO - Feb. 1, 1988

“Eyes on the Prize,” an independently produced television series on the history of the civil rights movement, has won the prestigious Gold Baton Award in the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in Broadcast Journalism competition. The award was given to the six-part documentary, subtitled “America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965,” for its contribution to the public’s understanding of an important issue or news event. “Eyes,” which aired on PBS (and continues encore broadcasts tonight at 10 on KCET), also won the $10,000 Trustees Prize as best independent production. Other DuPont honorees included NBC for its continued coverage of the AIDS epidemic; CBS’ “48 Hours on Crack Street” prime-time special; and ABC’s “20/20” for a segment about Lt. Elmo Zumwalt III’s fight against cancer believed caused by Agent Orange, a defoliant used in Vietnam at the orders of his father, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr.