Emerson Filmmakers Celebrating Peabody Wins

The Only Doctor, a documentary directed, produced, and filmed by Matthew Hashiguchi, MFA ’11 won the 2024 Peabody Award for Public Service.

Also winning a Peabody in the Documentary category was Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, produced by Dalia Burde ’00. The film also was co-produced by Terry Leonard ’99.

The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize artistic achievement and public service in television, radio, digital/interactive, and gaming storytelling, and are presented by the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. This year’s winners were announced Thursday, May 1.

“I never expected to get nominated for an award, let alone win one,” Hashiguchi, an associate professor at Georgia Southern University, said upon being nominated last month. 

The Only Doctor tells the story of Dr. Karen Kinsell, who is trying to decide whether to retire or save her struggling clinic, the only medical facility in rural Clay County, Georiga. When potential lifeline emerges in the form of a university medical group, Kinsell fights to maintain affordability and access for her patients.

The film had its U.S. broadcast premiere on the PBS program Reel South, and is distributed internationally on Al Jazeera’s documentary series Witness. It held its world premiere at the 2023 Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto.

Mountain Queen, available on Netflix, follows Nepali Lhakpa Sherpa, the first woman to climb Mount Everest 10 times, a mother of two daughters, and a survivor of an abusive marriage.

The winners were chosen by 27 jurors from more than 1,000 entries from television, podcasts/radio and the web in entertainment, news, documentary, arts, children’s/youth, public service, and interactive/immersive programming and media.

“The winners of the 85th annual Peabody Awards encompass a wide range of contemporary and historical issues, including the war in Gaza, rural healthcare, a focus on disabilities, authoritarianism, and sexual violence,” Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody, said in a press release. “Whether enlightening audiences on global issues or bringing a smile and sense of community through thoughtful entertainment, these works deserve to be recognized and celebrated.”

This year’s Peabody Award winners will be celebrated in a ceremony on June 1 in Los Angeles.