With a second season in development, the SABC1 drama show Intersexions has won a 2011 Peabody Award in New York.
Intersextions is produced by Curious Pictures (changing to Quizzical Pictures), Ants Multimedia as well as SABC Education and Johns Hopkins Health and Education South Africa (JHHESA).
This year's Peabody Award winners were honoured at the Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom; the winners considered the best in electronic media since the Peabody's are the oldest awards in broadcasting.
Other winners included news channels such as Al Jazeera and CNN International for coverage of the Arab Spring, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, and TV shows such as Game of Thrones, Parks and Recreation and Treme.
Intersextions executive producers Harriet Gavshon from Quizzical Pictures and Uzanenkosi Mahlangu from Ants Multimedia was in New York to accept the award.
"Intersextions has exploded several stereotypes, not least of which is that educational programming cannot be exciting and enormously entertaining," says Pontsho Makhetha, the acting general manager for SABC Education. "Another is that certain types of programmes will attract only certain types of viewers. Intersextions captured the imaginations of viewers from all walks of life."
"It is immensely inspirational to be surrounded with passionate, dedicated creative people, and Intersextions had them in spades," says Harriet Gavshon in a press statement. "They took the time to be a part of a production with great potential, and with their commitment and talent took Intersextions to a level of excellence that none of us had anticipated."
