"The Race Card Project" Wins Peabody Award

Michele Norris

Among this year’s Peabody Award winners for excellence in electronic media are two SAG-AFTRA members, host Michele Norris and Senior Producer Walter Watson of NPR for The Race Card Project.

Norris began The Race Card Project in 2013 to foster a wider conversation about race among her readers as she invited people to distill their “thoughts, experiences or observations about race into one sentence that only has six words.” The project has since grown into a rich and powerful archive capturing thousands of people from all over the U.S. and the world who have submitted their candid thoughts on race in six-word essays.

“Despite all the talk about America’s consternation or cowardice when it comes to talking about race, I seemed to have found auditorium after auditorium full of people who were more than willing to unburden themselves on this prickly topic,” wrote Norris on The Race Card Project website. “The postcards that were supposed to serve as a conversation starter wound up instead serving as an epilogue.”

The Peabody judges stated that the six-word submissions “became the basis of compelling reports about race, pride, prejudice and identity.”

The George Foster Peabody Awards program, named after businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, recognizes distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, online media, producing organizations and individuals.

This item was originally featured in the July 2014 local newsletter.