Award-Winning Left of Black Web Series Nominated for the 29th Annual Webby Awards

DURHAM, NC — April 8th, 2025 – Duke University web series Left of Black, now in its 15th season, has been nominated for Best Video Series in the category of Science & Education in
the 29th Annual Webby Awards. This nomination comes on the heels of winning Gold at the 20th Annual Davey Awards in the latter part of 2024.

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international awards organization honoring media excellence on the web.

“Nominees like Left of Black are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said Nick Borenstein, General Manager of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,000 entries we received this year.”

For fifteen years, Left of Black has been the premiere platform to highlight the important work of scholars, artists, and activists who have furthered thought and knowledge production around the increasingly essential subject of Black Studies and its relevance to university pedagogy and the world-at-large. Left of Black has welcomed a wide range of guests including American philosopher Dr. Cornel West, renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems, poet and scholar Dr. Fred Moten, author and cultural critic Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, former MSNBC and NPR host Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, Georgia’s first African American Senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock, and Grammy Award-winning producer 9th Wonder, among many more.

             Host Mark Anthony Neal on the set of Left of Black

The series was created by James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies Dr. Mark Anthony Neal in 2010 and, since 2020, has been produced at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI) at Duke by Multimedia Director Eric Barstow, M.F.A. The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, named after the famed Duke historian, has become a leader in fostering interdisciplinary projects and scholarly research.

“I have long admired the high standards of the Webby Awards and its governing body, the IADAS, as they continue to honor work that is, not only of the highest caliber, but also has things to say,” said show host Dr. Neal. “This type of recognition helps to extends the reach of the important research and scholarship of our esteemed guests, whether they are pivotal artists with groundbreaking new work, venerated scholars who have just published a highly praised monograph, or a junior faculty member who has overcome the hurdle of their first-ever published book. We are here to uphold this field and those who make it an essential part of the American university.”