Washington, D.C. -- Venerated television news magazine “60 Minutes” will receive the second annual Insight Award from the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) during the Welcome Session at the 2023 NAB Show on April 17 in Las Vegas, Nev. The award recognizes the iconic program’s 55-year history of excellence in broadcast journalism.
Reflective of LABF’s purpose, the Insight Award recognizes an individual or organization for an outstanding artistic or journalistic work or body of work that enhances the public’s understanding of the role, operation, history or impact of media in our society. Actor, director and educator LeVar Burton was the inaugural recipient of the award during the 2022 NAB Show.
Created in 1968 by Don Hewitt and first hosted by Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner, "60 Minutes" employs a magazine format of hard-hitting investigative reports, newsmaker interviews, feature segments and in-depth profiles. Over the years, the program has elevated a pantheon of broadcast journalists into household names, including Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Steve Kroft, Christiane Amanpour, Scott Pelley, Bill Whitaker and Anderson Cooper.
“60 Minutes” is the recipient of more Emmy Awards than any other primetime program and was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement Emmy. The program has also been awarded almost every broadcast journalism honor, including 25 Peabody awards for excellence in television broadcasting.
Considered the most successful broadcast in television history, the program has finished among Nielsen’s annual top-10 highest-rated programs for a record 23 consecutive seasons. During the 2021-2022 season, “60 Minutes” finished as the week’s top-rated primetime broadcast seven times. Currently in its 55th season, “60 Minutes” airs on Sunday nights on CBS and is available for streaming on CBSNews.com and Paramount+.
Bill Owens, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” will accept the award at NAB Show on behalf of the program. Owens was named executive producer in February 2019 after previously serving as executive director and a senior producer of the program for 12 years. During his 35-year career at CBS News, he has worked in a number of producer roles including as senior broadcast producer for “CBS Evening News” and as the CBS News senior White House producer. He has received many awards including numerous Emmy Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Overall Excellence Award and an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, to name a few. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Towson University, his alma mater, in May 2012.
“‘60 Minutes’ has set the standard for broadcast journalism during its historic run, enriching the lives of generations of Americans with its coverage of the events, people and stories that shape our lives,” said LABF Co-chairs Jack Goodman, former NAB general counsel and longtime DC-based Communications attorney and Heidi Raphael, Beasley Media Group Chief Communications Officer. “The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation is thrilled to honor ‘60 Minutes’ with the Insight Award in recognition of its seminal place in television history, trailblazing legacy of prestigious journalism and outstanding contributions to our society.”