Creators of Sesame Street Receive Second Annual Fred Rogers Award

For Immediate Release on February 8, 2002

Excellence in Children's Educational Media Honored

The creators of Sesame Street, the groundbreaking Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series that has educated and entertained children since 1969, received the second annual Fred Rogers Award for excellence in children's educational media on Friday, February 8, 2002.

Big Bird and Karen Gruenberg, Sesame Workshop Executive Vice President of Operations, accepted the award, which was presented by Dr. Ernest J. Wilson, Jr., a member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) board of directors, and a member of the faculty of the University of Maryland.

The award was presented during the PBS Ready to Learn Conference, which took place in Baltimore, Maryland, and was attended by 139 public television station education representatives from across the country. Ready to Learn, a cooperative effort among the U.S. Department of Education, CPB, and PBS consists of educationally rich childrens television programs and ancillary materials for use by children, parents, and caregivers. These resources include workshops for parents and caregivers that demonstrate how to extend the educational value of television programs.

CPB created the Fred Rogers Award in 2001 to honor an individual or organization that, like Mr. Rogers, has contributed to excellence in childrens educational media. Since 1968, Mr. Rogers has shared his magical talents as a musician, songwriter, and master of puppet voices to educate the nation's youngest citizens. Mr. Rogers hosted the longest running childrens television show in history.

Recipients are presented a "trolley-shaped" crystal statuette, a landmark symbol from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Fred Rogers, creator and host of the longtime public television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was named the inaugural winner of CPB's Fred Rogers Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Friday, February 23, 2001.

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,400 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

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