Debut-Season ‘Sopranos,’ ‘West Wing’ Win Peabody Awards

The critically praised Home Box Office series “The Sopranos” and NBC’s new White House drama “The West Wing” captured Peabody Awards for broadcast or cable excellence Thursday.

HBO won a total of five awards. Sheila Nevins, HBO’s executive vice president of original programming, also received a personal award for overseeing the cable network’s documentary and family programs.

ABC, ESPN and National Public Radio were honored for their millennium programming.

The annual awards for broadcast and cable excellence are administered by the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Awards director Barry Sherman noted that “The Sopranos” and “The West Wing” are both new programs: “It’s highly unusual for two series to win Peabody Awards in their debut season.”

A 15-member board that includes TV critics, broadcast and cable industry executives and experts in culture and the arts chose a record 36 winners from more than 1,200 entries:

Television:

* “The Sopranos,” Home Box Office and Brillstein-Grey Entertainment.

* “The West Wing,” NBC, John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

* “Annie,” ABC, Storyline Entertainment, Columbia-Tristar Television, Inc., and Chris Montan Productions in association with Walt Disney Television.

* “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years,” movie about daughters of an ex-slave, CBS, Televest, Columbia-Tristar Television in association with Dreyfuss/James Productions.

* “Strange Justice,” docudrama about Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas story, Showtime and Haft Entertainment.

* “A Lesson Before Dying,” Home Box Office, a Spanky Pictures Production in association with Ellen M. Krass Productions.

* “Good Night Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales,” Home Box Office.

* “ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: A Rather English Marriage,” Wall to Wall Television Ltd., BBC, Carlton Television. Presented on PBS by WGBH-TV, Boston.

* “ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre: Lost for Words,” a Yorkshire Television Production. Presented on PBS by WGBH-TV, Boston.

* “I’ll Make Me a World: A Century of African-American Arts,” Blackside Inc., in association with Thirteen/WNET. Presented on PBS.

* “City Life,” Thirteen/WNET, New York.

* “The Life of Birds by David Attenborough,” BBC, London, in association with PBS.

* “American Presidents: Life Portraits,” C-SPAN, Washington, D.C.

* “Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony,” Ken Burns’ story of two women who fought for women’s rights, Florentine Films in association with WETA-TV, Washington, D.C. Presented on PBS.

* “Those Were Our Children,” ABC News “20/20.”

* “Facing the Truth With Bill Moyers,” Moyers documents South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Public Affairs Television. Presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET

* “Frontline: The Lost Children of Rockdale County,” investigation into suburban syphilis outbreak, a Frontline co-production with 10/20 Productions. Presented on PBS.

* “Arguing the World,” Riverside Films, New York. Presented on PBS.

* “The Valley,” firsthand accounts of Kosovars, a Mentorn Barraclough Carey Production for Channel 4, London.

* “Murder in Purdah,” expose on the state of women’s rights in Pakistan, BBC News, London.

* “Playing the China Card,” glimpse into President Nixon’s overture to China, Brook Lapping Productions for Channel 4, London. Presented on PBS by WGBH-TV, Boston.

* “The Second World War in Colour,” a TWI/Carlton co-production for ITV, London.

* “BIOrhythm,” innovative biographies, MTV Networks.

* “VH1 Save the Music Campaign,” campaign to preserve music education in schools, VH1 Public Affairs. MTV Networks.

* Investigative reporting by GMA Network, Manila, Philippines.

* “ABC 2000,” coverage of the millennium around the globe, ABC News.

INDIVIDUALS

* Bob Simon, international reporting for CBS News.

* Sheila Nevins, Home Box Office, Personal Award.

SPORTS

* “Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sports,” Home Box Office Sports.

* “Fists of Freedom: The Story of the 68 Summer Games,” Home Box Office Sports.

* “ESPN SportsCentury,” ESPN.

RADIO

* “Lost & Found Sound,” chronicle of recorded sound in the 20th century, National Public Radio and the Kitchen Sisters.

* “The Mississippi: River of Song,” Smithsonian Productions presented on Public Radio International.

* “Morning Edition With Bob Edwards,” National Public Radio.

LOCAL TV

* “Singled Out,” stories about racial profiling, WAGA-TV, Atlanta.

* “Stadium Investigation,” fraud in the construction of new sports stadiums, WCPO-TV, Cincinnati.