Craig Leake
Associate Professor

Degrees Held

M.A., Radio-Television-Film, The University of Memphis
B.S., Journalism, The University of Memphis

Academic Summary

2004 – Present,  Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, The University of Memphis

1969 – 1971,  Instructor, Department of Communication, The University of Memphis

Courses Taught

Documentary Writing
Documentary Form in Broadcasting
Radio & Television Programming
Radio Production & Studio Operation
Elements of Broadcasting & Electronic Media

Professional Activity

2002 – Present, Producer/Owner, Pacific Pictures production company
2001 – 2002, Senior Producer, Peter Jennings Specials, ABC News, Los Angeles
1998 – 2001, Executive Producer, Tom Brokaw Specials, NBC News, Los Angeles
1994 – 1998, Executive Producer, Scripps Howard Productions, Los Angeles
1989 – 1994, Producer/Supervising Producer, ABC News, New York/Washington
1980 – 1989, Producer/Writer/Director, CBS News, New York
1972 – 1980, Producer/Writer/Director, NBC News, New York

Awards and Honors

Mid-South Regional Emmy® from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 2008

CINE Special Jury Award, Best Independent Short Documentary, 2006 for The Chemo Ate My Homework, a half-hour public television documentary about schoolteachers who work with cancer patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award, 1997

Writers Guild Award, 1997 for Why Can’t We Live Together?, a one-hour NBC News Special on racism, as seen in a South Chicago suburb “tipping” from white to black.

George Foster Peabody Award, 1990

Emmy® from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1990

CINE Golden Eagle Award, 1990 for Peter Jennings Reporting: Guns, a one-hour ABC News documentary on the issue of gun control, told by examining who shoots whom and why in one town, Stockton, California.

George Foster Peabody Award, 1981

Emmy® from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1981 for The War Machine, a CBS News Special with Richard Threlkeld, one hour in the five-part CBS Reports series The Defense of the United States.

Emmy® from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1978 for A Very, Very Special Place (Palm Beach), segment of the NBC News magazine Weekend.

Emmy® nomination, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 2003 for The Stage, an ABC News documentary with Peter Jennings about a high school theater department in Boulder, Colorado, creating a production of the 1968 Broadway musical HAIR and, in the process, learning the meaning of protest, patriotism, and tolerance.

Edward R. Murrow Award, 1999 from the Radio and Television News Directors Association, as Executive Producer of the NBC News Special The Greatest Generation with Tom Brokaw.

CINE Golden Eagle Award, 1995 for Tycoon, an NBC News Special with Tom Brokaw; a one-hour profile of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Emmy® from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1973 for The Billion Dollar Weapon, an NBC News White Paper on issues facing the Department of Defense as the Vietnam War was nearing an end.