STAR TREK Honored At the 84th Annual Peabody Awards
(L-R) Jenny Lumet, Doug Jones, Alex Kurtzman, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Michelle Paradise and Wilson Cruz. Image: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Peabody Awards.
Star Trek is a nearly 60-year-old franchise and throughout its history it has won many awards. Few have been more prestigious than the one they received Sunday night at the Peabodies.
The Peabody Awards (which are not named for a time-traveling canine appearing in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, in case you were wondering) have, for the past 84 years, been honoring “excellence in storytelling that reflects the social issues and emerging voices of our day,” according to their website. No Trekkie will be surprised, then, to learn that their favorite franchise was awarded the Peabody Institutional Award on June 9.
This particular award is presented annually “to recognize an organization or long-running television program that has made an idellible mark on the American broadcasting landscape.” Accepting the award was Alex Kurtzman, who, along with his production company Secret Hideout, has been tasked with overseeing the Trek universe since 2021.
“We, all of us, actors, writers, directors, executives, fans, have become custodians of this incredible world of stories,” Kurtzman said in his acceptance speech. “A world that is so much bigger than any one of us but keeps growing stronger because of all of us.”
Kurtzman also recognized Bjo Trimble, who was in the audience. Trimble, along with her late husband John, was responsible for saving the original Star Trek series from cancellation by starting an agressive letter-writing campaign. Without her, it is unlikely Star Trek would have gone past a single season and would largely be forgotten today,
Kurtzman was joined onstage by a cadre of Trek luminaries, including, among others, Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Picard); Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer, Star Trek: Enterprise); Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, PIC); Anson Mount (Christopher Pike, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds); Wilson Cruz (Hugh Culber, DISCO); Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner, Star Trek: Lower Decks, SNW); Sam Richardson (Vendome, Star Trek: Lower Decks, TBA Star Trek: Section 31); Akiva Goldsman (Executive Producer, Star Trek: Short Treks, PIC, SNW); Michelle Paradise (Executive Producer, DISCO); Olatunde Osunsami (Director, DISCO, ST, SEC); Noga Landau (Co-creator, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy); and Trevor Roth (Chief Operating Officer, Roddenberry Entertainment).
Scroll down for a photo gallery and videos from the event.
T is the Managing Editor for Daily Star Trek News and a contributing writer for Sherlock Holmes Magazine and a Shakespeare nerd. He may have been the last professional Stage Manager to work with Leonard Nimoy, has worked Off-Broadway and regionally, and is the union Stage Manager for Legacy Theatre, where he is currently working with Julie Andrews. after which he’ll be working on Richard III at Elm Shakespeare Company.
