BOSTON (December 20, 2021) – Boston public media producer GBH has awarded four fellowships to innovative staff and independent producers, recognizing excellence, potential and creativity. The recipients of the 2022 Fellowship Awards are Jackie Bruleigh and Nicole Velez, who received the Becton Fellowship; Daniel Ofman, who received the Margret and Hans Rey/Curious George Producership; and Jamila Ephron, recipient of the Peter S. McGhee Fellowship.
“From cross-platform children’s media to high-stakes international journalism, these four producers are bringing creative vision to public media’s present and future,” said GBH president and CEO Jon Abbott. “We’re proud to continue the tradition of these fellowships and to acknowledge the high caliber content each individual recipient has brought to life through television, digital, audio and more.”
Bruleigh and Velez were selected as 2022 Becton Fellows. This fellowship, supported by the Becton Fund and named in honor of GBH’s former president and current vice chair, Henry Becton, Jr., recognizes promising GBH producers and content creators whose work is emblematic of the organization’s public service mission.
Bruleigh is the Digital Marketing Manager at GBH. In this role she guides fundraising efforts on GBH social media, facilitates fundraising on GBH.org and manages programming and drama content on GBH.org. She is a two-time New England Emmy-winning writer and producer, and has created multiple digital series for GBH, including Drama After Dark, which she also produced and hosted.
Velez is a Senior Producer in the Children’s Programming division at GBH. She has devoted her career to inspiring young minds and creating educational and entertaining content for children. Velez currently manages the development and production needs for the PBS preschool series, Pinkalicious & Peterrific. During her time at GBH, Velez has worked on several PBS series from GBH including Arthur, Molly of Denali, Between the Lions, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, and Curious George.
Ofman was selected as the Margret and Hans Rey/Curious George Producer. Made possible through a bequest from author Margret Rey through the Curious George Foundation, this fellowship recognizes GBH creators who work in areas reflecting Rey’s broad interests, including science, public affairs, arts, health and children’s programming.
As a producer for The World, Ofman has covered news from all over the globe, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Since the start of the pandemic, Ofman has highlighted major stories coming out of Russia and other former Soviet countries, including upheaval in Belarus, war in Nagorno Karabakh, the poisoning and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, tension on the Russia-Ukraine border and more. He also has contributed to The World’s coverage of the State Department, National Security and Intelligence.
Ephron was selected as the Peter S. McGhee Fellow. Named for GBH’s former head of national programming, the McGhee Fellowship is awarded each year to a mid-career filmmaker who has shown exceptional promise in non-fiction television production and who adheres to the standards set by McGhee, including excellence, intelligence, fairness, passion and scholarship.
Ephron is a documentary film producer, director and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her most recent work is The Blinding Of Isaac Woodard for GBH’s history documentary series AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Previously, she produced and co-directed Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. She also directed and produced George W. Bush for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE's acclaimed series of presidential biographies, and the theatrical feature documentary Far from the Tree, based on Andrew Solomon's best-selling book, now streaming on Hulu. Her other work includes the Primetime Emmy and Peabody-winning My Lai, as well as The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Clinton, Makers: Women who Make America, and Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, based on Siddhartha Mukherjee's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, as well as several FRONTLINE documentaries.
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About GBH
GBH is the leading multiplatform creator for public media in America. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are. GBH produces digital and broadcast programming that engages, illuminates and inspires, through drama and science, history, arts, culture and journalism. It is the creator of such signature programs as MASTERPIECE, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, FRONTLINE, NOVA, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, Arthur and Molly of Denali and a catalog of streaming series, podcasts and on-demand video. GBH’s television channels include GBH 2, GBH 44, GBH Kids and national services WORLD and Create. With studios and a newsroom headquartered in Boston, GBH reaches across New England with GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; CRB Classical 99.5; and CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station. Dedicated to making media accessible to and inclusive of our diverse culture, GBH is a pioneer in delivering media to those who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. GBH creates curriculum-based digital content for educators nationwide with PBS LearningMedia and has been recognized with hundreds of the nation’s premier broadcast, digital and journalism awards. Find more information at gbh.org.
