It has been 50 years since Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett created Sesame Street, the longest running children’s show in America. Forty-eight years after the first episode aired, the Los Angeles Press Club is honoring the co-creators with its first Distinguished Storyteller Award. The ceremony will take place at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards Gala on December 3 at the Biltmore Hotel, downtown Los Angeles.
“Sesame Street has educated and entertained generations of children and set a high standard for storytelling well worth celebrating,” said Press Club President Robert Kovacik.
The Distinguished Storyteller Award was instituted to pay tribute to those committed to important storytelling in ways other than journalism.
“I am very honored to accept this award on behalf of Joan Cooney and myself, but it is really an award for the work of the many hundreds of people who have been part of the Sesame family over these forty-eight years,” said Lloyd Morrisett from his home in San Diego.
Variety’s Co-Editors-in-Chief Claudia Eller and Andrew Wallenstein will also be honored at the National A&E Journalism Awards with the Club’s Luminary Award for Career Achievement.
On the same evening, New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who broke the Harvey Weinstein story, will be bestowed with the Los Angeles Press Club’s inaugural Impact Award.
The Los Angeles Press Club has a long and storied history as one of the oldest and most prestigious journalist organizations in the country, serving the Southland since 1913. The NAEJ event is a fundraiser for this 501c3 charitable organization. It is the only Southern California journalism group speaking for all journalists working for daily and weekly newspapers, radio & TV, magazines, documentary films and online.
The club established the NAEJ Awards in 2008 to recognize quality journalism in the fastest growing segment of the modern media revolution. It remains the sole award of its kind in the nation.
