2025 Sentinel Awards

Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, is excited to announce the Call for Entries for the 2025 Sentinel Awards is open from June 2 through June 27, 2025. Entries from broadcast, cable and streaming network scripted series that address a range of topics on health, safety and security are eligible. 

Marking its 25th anniversary, the Sentinel Awards celebrates some of the best and most challenging TV entertainment of the past year that made a difference in viewers’ lives. The honorees will be selected by judges based on accuracy, entertainment value and benefit to audiences, to be announced in the fall. 

To submit your entry and/or to learn more details  click here. Eligibility period is June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025. 

Last year’s red-carpet event, hosted by Laraine Newman, comedian, actress and SNL veteran, was held on Oct. 24 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. The ceremony included the following winning shows: The Morning Show, The Simpsons, Hacks, Expats, Dark Winds, Abbott Elementary, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, The Big Cigar, and Grey’s Anatomy for its entire 20 seasons.

“Television has the power to affect audiences and the way they see the world around them long after the credits roll,” said HH&S program Director Kate Folb.

The Sentinel Awards recognize exemplary achievements in TV storylines that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. For audiences here and around the world, television often provides both entertainment and factual information about a wide range of health topics and social issues. Today, fighting widespread misinformation with facts has never been more important, and HH&S helps TV storytellers find the facts they need to “get it right.”

As the entertainment landscape expands and programs continue to push boundaries, topics such as disease, injury, maternal health, disability, violence, discrimination and more are being explored through dynamic storytelling. Support for HH&S comes from funders that includeRobert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Health Care Foundation, Caring Across Generations, and the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Based at the Norman Lear Center, for 25 years, HH&S has been a free resource for writers, producers and the entertainment industry in search of credible information with expert consultations, panel discussions, research trips, social media, and more.