VANCOUVER — Thunderbird Entertainment Group’s kids and family division, Atomic Cartoons, announced Tuesday its animated series Molly of Denali about the adventures of a young Indigenous girl has been nominated for a Peabody Award.
Co-produced by WGBH Boston and Atomic Cartoons for PBS Kids and CBC Kids, Molly of Denali is one of only two nominees in the children and youth category for the Peabody Awards this year.
“It is such an incredible honour to receive a Peabody Award nomination for Molly of Denali, a series that we have been so passionate about from the very beginning,” said Jennifer Twiner McCarron, CEO of Thunderbird Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons, in the news release. “We are so proud of everyone involved in creating this series, and we are also deeply touched by the response it has received, particularly from many Indigenous children who are seeing themselves portrayed on screen for the very first time.”
Since premiering in July 2019, Molly of Denali has been widely acknowledged as the first nationally distributed children’s series in the United States to feature an Indigenous lead character. It follows 10-year-old Molly Mabray, who has cultural heritage from three Athabascan groups (the Gwich’in, Koyukon and Dena’ina), as she and her friends explore the epic surroundings and rich Alaska Native culture that is home. The series is designed to help kids ages 4-to-8 develop informational text skills through video content, interactive games, and real-world activities, says the news release.
All Alaska Native characters portrayed on the series are voiced by Indigenous actors, and more than 60 Alaska Natives contributed to the series as writers, producers, actors, musicians, and language and cultural advisors.
In Canada, Molly of Denali airs Wednesday and Saturday mornings on CBC, and is available on the free CBC Gem streaming service.
The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors selected 60 nominees that represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcasting and digital media during 2019. The nominees were chosen by unanimous vote of 19 jurors from nearly 1,300 entries from television, radio/podcasts and the web in entertainment, news, documentary, children’s and public service programming. The Peabody Awards are based at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. For more information about the Peabody Awards, please click here.
