Sentinel Awards Honor National Geographic Special 'Bill Nye's Global Meltdown' for Outstanding Efforts to Engage Viewers on Climate Change
21st Century Fox Social Impact
Bill Nye's Global Meltdown, the acclaimed science educator's recent documentary for the National Geographic Channel chronicling the worldwide effects of climate change, took home top honors at the Sentinel Awards in Hollywood on September 28.
The annual award ceremony celebrates film and television projects that promote scientific and public health issues, and Bill Nye's Global Meltdown was recognized as the year's best entry in the climate change category. The Sentinel Awards, now in their 17th year, also honored projects from the worlds of drama, comedy, reality, and children's programming that tackled substance abuse, mental health, reproductive health, and more.
"This evening acknowledges the fact that entertainment matters," said Marty Kaplan, the Norman Lear Professor of Entertainment, Media and Society at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and founding director of The Norman Lear Center. "And it matters especially in the arena of public health."
Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the Annenberg School and the Norman Lear Center, administers the Sentinel Awards as a way of recognizing the impact that media has on individual knowledge and behavior. HH&S, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and more, works closely with the entertainment industry to provide up to date information on health and science, working directly with showrunners, writers, directors, and more to ensure accuracy.
Bill Nye's Global Meltdown aired last year as part of the National Geographic Channel's signature Explorer series. The special follows Bill Nye as he investigates how the world's communities are addressing climate change, as well as how activists, politicians, extremists, and experts continue to communicate their views on the subject. The documentary also features Hollywood action star, environmental activist, and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The special will re-air at 8:00 PM on Monday, October 31, as part of the National Geographic Channel's first ever Earth Week, six straight days of primetime programming dedicated exclusively to climate change. Earth Week begins on Sunday, October 30, with two highly anticipated premieres: the first episode of the new season of Years of Living Dangerously at 8:00 PM and Leonardo DiCaprio's climate change documentary Before the Flood at 9:00 PM. The week will continue with encore presentations of each, as well as some of the most spellbinding nature documentaries from the National Geographic archives.
