PBS SoCal and KCET Nominated for 17 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards Presented by the Los Angeles Press Club
Press Contact
JP Shields
747-201-5886
jpshields@pmgsocal.org
Los Angles, Calif. – November 2, 2023 – PBS SoCal and KCET, Southern California’s flagship PBS stations, announced today 17 nominations for the National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards presented by the Los Angeles Press Club. The nominations were spread across 13 different categories and honored locally produced series/productions from KCET and PBS SoCal. Winners will be announced in all categories presented during a ceremony in downtown Los Angeles at the Millennium Biltmore on Sunday, December 3. The event will also pay tribute to PBS’s Finding Your Roots, author and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. who will be receiving the 2023 “Luminary Award for Career Achievement” as well as to actor, director, producer, educator and lifelong literacy advocate (PBS’s Reading Rainbow) LeVar Burton who will accept the Distinguished Storyteller Award. A complete list of nominations, special Honorees and further details can be found at lapressclub.org
KCET Original arts and culture series ARTBOUND received the most recognition with 11 of the 17 nominations. Three of the nominations highlighted the documentary “A New Deal for LA,” exploring the importance of art in infrastructure in the WPA era and takes a look at publicly funded arts programs across the city. Two nominations went to “Giant Robot: Asian Pop Culture and Beyond” which celebrated the iconic magazine that created an appetite for Asian and Asian American pop culture.
PBS SoCal’s LGBTQ+ themed DEAR IKE: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol, an animated documentary from filmmaker Dion Labriola who recounts his childhood quest to contact his teen idol Ike Eisenmann, is up against two ARTBOUND episodes in the category of “Documentary or Special Program, Feature (over 30 minutes).”
Three additional nominations went to photojournalist Osceola Refetoff in the “Photojournalist of the Year,” “Feature Photo” and “Photo Essay” categories.
A full list of nominations is listed below:
Documentary or Special Program, Feature, over 30 minutes
- “ARTBOUND: A New Deal for Los Angeles”
- “ARTBOUND: Duchamp Comes to Pasadena”
- “DEAR IKE: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol”
Entertainment Industry/Arts Investigative
Diversity in Music/Arts
Hard News Feature — Over 5 Minutes
Soft News Feature, Arts/Culture — Under 5 Minutes
Soft News Feature, Film/TV related — Over 5 Minutes
Soft News Feature, Music/Arts related — Over 5 Minutes
- “ARTBOUND: How Pink Donut Box Portraits Capture the Spirit of Cambodian Refugee Experiences”
- “ARTBOUND: The Authenticity of Love & Rockets’ Women Stories”
Business, Tech/Arts
- “ARTBOUND: Reflecting on Giant Robot's Earliest Zine Issues”
- “ARTBOUND: This Artist Remixes NFTs and Performance to Better Understand Humanity”
Personality Profile, Performing & Other Arts
Anchor/Host
- David Kipen, “ARTBOUND: A New Deal for Los Angeles”
Photojournalist of the Year
- Osceola Refetoff
Feature Photo
- Osceola Refetoff, “Mt Whitney, Infrared Exposure, Alabama Hills, California”
Photo Essay
- Osceola Refetoff, “Toxic Individualism is Hurting the Alabama Hills. Indigenous Knowledge Can Save Them.”
About PBS SoCal and KCET
PBS SoCal and KCET are both part of the donor-supported community institution, the Public Media Group of Southern California. PBS SoCal is the flagship PBS station for diverse people across California and delivers content and experiences that inspire, inform and educate. PBS SoCal offers the full slate of beloved PBS programs including MASTERPIECE, NOVA, PBS NewsHour, FRONTLINE, and a broad library of documentary films with works from Ken Burns; as well as educational content including PBS KIDS programs like DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD and CURIOUS GEORGE. KCET showcases the best of PBS and is a leading source for arts, culture, and news in Southern California. Through innovative storytelling, KCET explores and expresses our dynamic local communities helping residents understand and connect with the region's diverse communities and ideas. For additional information about both KCET and PBS SoCal productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org and pbssocal.org KCET Originals and PBS programming are available to stream on the FREE PBS App on iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, and Chromecast. KCET is also available to watch live on YouTube TV.