2019 Sentinel Awards highlights

In a sometimes moving and deeply personal ceremony, the 2019 Sentinel Awards honored 13 TV shows for outstanding storylines dealing with critical topics such as addiction, criminal justice, mental health, nuclear risk and sexual assault. 

Hollywood entertainment figures including Ava DuVernay (When They See Us), Sam Levinson (Euphoria), Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), Gloria Calderón Kellett (One Day at a Time) and Amy Holden Jones (The Resident), and members of their creative teams, accepted awards for accurate and compelling stories that inform, educate and motivate audiences to make choices for healthier and safer lives.

“Through your work, you explain why stories matter,” said Marty Kaplan, the founding director of the The Norman Lear Center, in his opening remarks to the audience. 

The awards are presented by Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the Lear Center at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. TV producer Norman Lear, who was a special guest presenter, said the Sentinel Awards were honoring shows that “have something on their mind.”