NEW YORK —The National Black Programming Consortium documentary series, 180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School, which offers an up close and personal view of the nation’s educational crisis, has been nominated for an International Documentary Association (IDA) award. The series is nominated in the Limited Series Award category of the 29th Annual IDA Documentary Awards. Winners will be announced at the IDA Documentary Awards Gala, the world’s most prestigious award event solely dedicated to documentary film, on December 6 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.
180 Days condenses a full school year at a learning institution at the epicenter of the nation’s school reform movement and the lives that hang in the balance into two dramatic two-hour episodes. The 180 Days team followed students and faculty at Washington Metropolitan High School—AKA DC Met—where only seven percent of students are deemed “proficient” in math and only 19 percent in reading. As the clock ticks down from Day 1 to Day 180, Principal Tanishia Williams Minor and the faculty at DC Met race to recover truants, raise test scores, keep their school from the chopping block and save lives. The series aired on PBS in March.
“Often missing in the stories of urban schools in crisis are the voices of the students, those most affected,” said Corporation for Public Broadcasting President and CEO Patricia Harrison. “180 Days brings those voices powerfully into the conversation. You will not soon or easily forget the riveting, heartbreaking and inspiring stories of the amazing kids featured in this series.”
“We are honored to receive this nomination for a series that we hope helps elucidate the daily challenges facing students and faculty in inner cities across this country,” said Jacquie Jones, executive director of National Black Programming Consortium and executive producer of 180 Days. “We hope that 180 Days will continue to inspire dialogue around the issue of education, with the goal of ensuring that all children in America, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, get the proper foundation to equip them for a happy, successful life.”
180 Days was produced by the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), which brings programming about the Black experience to public television. The program was part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a public media initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), that helps communities nationwide understand and implement solutions to address the high school dropout crisis.
The series was produced and directed by Jacquie Jones and Garland McLaurin. Adam Lingo and Carol Slatkin edited the series, and Christopher Paultre composed the music.
