Elaine McMillion, a journalism graduate of West Virginia University, has won a Peabody Award for “Hollow,” a documentary about McDowell County.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “Hollow,” an interactive documentary project by West Virginia native Elaine McMillion, is among the winners of the 73rd annual Peabody Award winners.
Winners of the award — regarded by some as the radio and television version of the Pulitzer Prize — were announced Wednesday morning.
“I was told a week ago they would be making the announcements today. They said they would be announcing it on (CBS This Morning),” she said.
McMillion, 26, was driving Wednesday morning when some of the winners were announced, so she asked her parents to watch it for her. They didn’t hear her name, and emailed to say she didn’t win. But it turns out the anchors only announced a few of the winners.
McMillion later found a complete list of winners on the Huffington Post and, scrolling down, spotted “Hollow” right above the hit Netflix series “House of Cards.”
“My mind has been blown ever since,” she said.
McMillion submitted “Hollow” to the Peabody Awards in January, “thinking my chances were pretty low because most of the people that win are with networks or affiliated with some corporation.
“I never thought we’d be in the same list as ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘House of Cards…’”