Jerry Weintraub, Alex Borstein, Jason Katims, Dante Di Loreto Attending 2014 Sentinel Awards

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Some top names will be attending the Sentinel Awards on Thursday, Oct. 9 at the Taglyan Complex in Hollywood. The awards recognize exemplary achievements in television storylines and movies that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives.

Jerry Weintraub, one of the most influential and successful people in the entertainment industry, will attend on behalf of Showtime's Years of Living Dangerously. Weintraub has a long-standing career in feature film, television, theater and music, including the hit films Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. His most recent project was Behind the Candelabra, a film about the entertainer and showman Liberace. Weintraub is well known for his philanthropic efforts on behalf of a wide variety of worthwhile causes, ranging from health to education to the arts and more.

Alex Borstein, who plays Nurse Dawn on HBO's Getting On, a TV series that explores the darkly comic realities of caring for the elderly in an overwhelmed health-care system, will present an award for the Comedy category. Borstein is an actress, writer, producer and comedian. She is well known for her long-running voice role as Lois Griffin on the animated television series Family Guy, and as a cast member on the sketch comedy series MADtv.

Executive producer Jason Katims will represent the NBC drama Parenthood for a moving storyline on Asperger's Syndrome. Katims, a television writer, producer and playwright, was also the head writer and executive producer of the acclaimed show Friday Night Lights.

Dante Di Loreto, executive producer of The Normal Heart (HBO), will accept an award for the film's powerful story about the rise of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s. Di Loreto also served as executive producer for the hit series Glee.

Chris Nee, executive producer of Disney Junior's Doc McStuffins, will attend to honor the animated children's television series, and Joy Gregory, executive producer of ABC Family's Switched at Birth, will attend on behalf of the teen/family drama.

Also attending are David Shadrack Smith, executive producer of the documentary series Our America With Lisa Ling on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), and Anthony Galloway, supervising producer of NBC News' Ann Curry Reports: Our Year of Extremes -- Did Climate Change Just Hit Home?

Now in its 15th year, the Sentinel Awards are presented in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of The Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. 

The 2014 Sentinel Awards finalists:

• Nurse Jackie -- Sidecars and Spermicide (Showtime)
  Topic: Substance Abuse
• Years of Living Dangerously -- A Dangerous Future (Showtime)
  Topic: Climate Change
• Life According to Sam (HBO)
  Topic: Progeria
• Our America With Lisa Ling -- Black America's Silent Epidemic (OWN)
  Topic: HIV/AIDS
• The Normal Heart  (HBO)
  Topic: HIV/AIDS 
• Parenthood -- Hank's Diagnosis (NBC)
  Topic: Asperger's Syndrome
• Switched at Birth -- Cameron's Cochlear Implant (ABC Family)
  Topic: Deafness/cochlear implants
• Getting On -- Born On the Fourth of July (HBO)
  Topic: Healthcare
• Ann Curry Reports -- Our Year of Extremes: Did Climate Change Just Hit Home? (NBC News)
  Topic: Climate Change
• Doc McStuffins -- Don't Knock the Noggin (Disney Jr.)
  Topic: Importance of wearing a helmet
• Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (HBO)
  Topic: PTSD

Hollywood, Health & Society provides entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for storylines dealing with health and climate change through consultations and briefings with experts. Based at The Norman Lear Center, HH&S is a one-stop shop for writers, producers and others in search of credible information on public health and climate change topics. Current and past funders include the CDC, The California Endowment, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ClimateWorks, the Grantham Foundation, the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the Barr Foundation and the Energy Foundation. For more information about resources for writers, go to www.usc.edu/hhs.

The Norman Lear Center is a multidisciplinary research and public policy center studying and shaping the impact of entertainment and media on society. From its base in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Lear Center builds bridges between faculty who study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the gap between entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. For more information, visit www.learcenter.org.

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is among the nation's leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 2,000 graduate and under-graduate students (as of Fall 2011), USC Annenberg offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in journalism, communication, public diplomacy and public relations. For more information, visit www.annenberg.usc.edu.

SOURCE USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center