60 Minutes Journalist to Deliver UGA's Peabody-Smithgall Lecture

ATHENS, Ga., March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Peabody Awards will present its third Peabody-Smithgall Lecture on the theme "The Media and Public Life" at 4 p.m. on April 11, in Room 101 of the University of Georgia's Miller Learning Center. Scott Pelley, a correspondent of CBS News' 60 Minutes and a two-time Peabody winner, will be the featured speaker. The event is free and open to the public.

"Scott Pelley is one of the most experienced journalists of our time," said Horace Newcomb, director of the George Foster Peabody Awards at UGA. "His presence on 60 Minutes may be the most recent familiar feature of his career, but his work has focused on countless major events and topics in recent history. That's the perspective we want—the perspective we need—for the Peabody-Smithgall lectures."

In his 21 years at CBS News, Pelley has worked as a war correspondent in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the former Yugoslavia. As a political reporter, he has covered numerous presidential campaigns and conducted six presidential interviews. Among his most memorable assignments was reporting from the World Trade Center as Tower One collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Pelley has been a 60 Minutes correspondent since 2004. Previously, he served as a correspondent for 60 Minutes II and as chief White House correspondent for the CBS Evening News.

In addition to his pair of George Foster Peabody Awards, Pelley has collected 14 national Emmy Awards, five Edward R. Murrow Awards, a George Polk Award and a Loeb Award, as well as honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Writers Guild of America.

The Peabody-Smithgall Lecture is named in honor of Lessie Bailey Smithgall and her late husband, Charles Smithgall. In the late 1930s, Mrs. Smithgall introduced Lambdin Kay, general manager of Atlanta's WSB Radio, to John Drewry, dean of what was then the UGA Grady School of Journalism. Their efforts led to the establishment of the George Foster Peabody Awards at the university. In 2003, the Smithgalls endowed the Lambdin Kay Chair for the Peabodys, now held by Horace Newcomb. The Peabody-Smithgall Lecture is supported with funds from the Lambdin Kay Chair.

The Peabodys, the oldest awards in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media. The Peabody Awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody Awards program, see www.peabody.uga.edu.

Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in advertising, digital and broadcast journalism, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.

SOURCE The George Foster Peabody Awards