Library of American Broadcasting Foundation to honor LeVar Burton with inaugural Insight Award

"LeVar Burton" by Gage Skidmore is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.

MARCH 27, 2022 - Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Geordi La Forge, LeVar Burton, has long been recognized as an advocate of reading and education as well as for his acting, directing, and on-screen engineering miracles aboard the USS Enterprise.

Burton will soon be awarded – yet again – for his efforts, according to TV Tech. As part of the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB Show Welcome coming up next month, the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) will bestow on Burton their inaugural Insight Award. The award “recognizes an individual or organization for an outstanding artistic or journalistic work or body of work that enhances the public’s understanding of the role, operation, history or impact of media in our society.”

The Library of American Broadcasting, according to its website, “is the nation's most extensive collection of broadcast history, policy and tradition, including historic documents, professional papers, oral and video histories, books, scripts and photographs.” It is housed at the Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland College Park.

LABF co-chairs, Jack Goodman and Heidi Raphael, said, “Guided by a belief in the power of reading, for decades LeVar Burton has been a beloved champion of childhood literacy, a promoter of education through entertainment, and a champion of the importance of lifelong learning. The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation is thrilled to present the inaugural Insight Award to LeVar Burton, who not only embodies the spirit of this honor but sets a high standard for all future recipients.”

The award presentation will take place April 25 in Las Vegas.

TV Tech has more on LABF’s Insight Award, including a summary of LeVar Burton’s accomplishments, about as long as a Jefferies tube.