NPR’s Cokie Roberts to be Honored with Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award

Thursday, July 28, 2016
GoLocalWorcester Lifestyle Team

Cokie Roberts

National political reporter (NPR) Cokie Robers will be honored with the Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award from filmmaker Ken Burns and Old Sturbridge Village on Thursday, October 13 at the living history museum. 

The award is given to "an individual who has made a significant impact on the arts through a project that is relevant to the history Old Sturbridge Village works to preserve." 

"I've known Cokie--and admired her extraordinary professionalism--for more than three decades. She gave me a wonderful interview for our film on the history of the Congress, and an equally wonderful tour of the Capitol Building. I'm thrilled that Old Sturbridge Village is honoring this great American," said Burns. 

Cokie Roberts 

Roberts is currently a morning edition commentator on NPR. 

She previously served as the congressional correspondent for over 10 years. In addition, Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News. 

From 1996-2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program This Week. 

In over 40 years of broadcasting, she has won numerous awards, including 3 Emmys.  She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable hall of Fame, and was also cited by the American women in Radio and Television as one of 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting. 

She holds over 20 honorary degrees, serves on the boards of several non-profit institutions and President George W. Bush appointed her to the Commission on Service and Civic Participation. 

Lastly, the Library of Congress named her a "Living Legend," one of only a very few Americans to attain that honor. 

Ken Burns 

Burns has been making documentary films for more than 40 years. He has directed films such as The Civil War;Baseball; Jazz, The Statue of Liberty; Huey Long; Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery; Frank Lloyd Wright; Mark Twain; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson; The War; The National Parks: America's Best Idea; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; and, most recently, Jackie Robinson.

Burns's films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including fourteen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations; and in September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Burns was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award.