A portion of "Beyond the Big Dig," a year-long public information campaign convened by The Boston Globe and MIT in conjunction with WCVB-TV, has won prestigious national recognition.
WCVB's "Chronicle" newsmagazine won a 2003 duPont-Columbia Award for its five-part series (part of "Beyond the Big Dig") examining public open space options for the 30 acres of land to become available when the Central Artery elevated highway in downtown Boston is removed. The series starts on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The duPont Award is TV's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.
"Beyond the Big Dig" includes in-depth research by MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), extensive reporting by the Boston Globe and four special editions of "Chronicle." Thomas Piper, a DUSP principal research scientist, is the project's executive director and co-executive producer of the Chronicle programs (Chris Stirling was executive producer of the Chronicle series). The programs took viewers to some of the world's most beautiful cities, including Paris, Barcelona and San Francisco, to explore lessons they hold for future parks in Boston.
