PBS Digital to show duPont-Columbia journalism awards

PBS’ digital venues will stream the duPont-Columbia journalism awards ceremony anchored by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and The Washington Post’s Michele Norris.

The stream “will allow people to both watch the awards as they are broadcast, but also at any time,” says Steve Coll, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism School, which presents the awards.

The awards were founded by Jessie Ball duPont in honor of Alfred I. duPont, her late husband, and have honored top journalism in audio and video reporting for nearly 80 years.

With the stream, people will also be able to see how news outlets are using different avenues with new methods of storytelling.

“The duPonts have always been a way to understand not only where excellence in the year past has been located, but also changes and innovations in new formats,” says Coll. “These are new ways of telling stories.”

While the awards are given at Columbia University’s Low Library, the pandemic has restricted that this year. Also, a sizable audience is now dispersed globally. “The pandemic has kind of accelerated our interest in figuring out how to do this,” says Coll. “We had to prepare the awards ceremony through kind of a production approach that was different form our usual live production,” he adds.

The hour-long awards ceremony will begin Tuesday evening at 8 p.m.