China featured prominently in the Peabodys this year with five awards going to programming on China-related subjects, among which Sichuan Television was honored for its outstanding reporting of the disastrous earthquake in May last year.

Brian Williams, the award-winning anchor of "NBC Nightly News," will be the host of the 68th Annual George Foster Peabody Awards ceremony on Monday, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, according to a report available Sunday at Peabody Awards website.

"This is a historic Peabody year for China," the Wall Street Journal quotes Yuen-Ying Chan, director of the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Center and member of the Peabody board, as saying.

"It's especially heartening that Sichuan Television was honored for its outstanding reporting under trying conditions in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. The Peabody honor is a tribute to Chinese journalists and their professionalism," she said.

Other China-related honorees include the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony by the National Broadcasting Coopporation, The Red Race by the Shanghai Media Group, The Earthquake of Chengdu by the National Public Radio (NPR), and Nanking by HBO (Home Box Office), a premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner.

The Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony is an exponential magnification of what was once known in television as a "spectacular," according to the Peabody Awards website.

On assignment in China when earthquakes devastated Sichuan province, members of an NPR team were in the air in Chengdu when the tremors began, and they provided riveting, first-hand accounts from around the region for days.

The Red Race, a documentary by the Shanghai Media Group, depicts the rigorous training of China's potential gymnastic stars.

Nanking, a documentary by HBO, remembers a small group of Westerners who saved thousands of Chinese during the 1937 "rape of Nanking" by Japanese invaders.

The University of Georgia recently announced the winners of the68th Annual Peabody Awards, which represent the Peabody Board's choices for the best in electronic media in 2008. Thirty-six winners were chosen from more than 900 submissions, covering a broad span of genres from news to documentary to entertainment.

The Peabodys, the oldest awards in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media.

The Peabody Awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, Webcasters, producing organizations and individuals.

The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the Board following review by special screening committees of University of Georgia faculty, students, and staff.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2009)