Larry Wilmore Set to Host 2023 Sentinel Awards For Hollywood, Health & Society

Hollywood, Health & Society announces today that Emmy-winning producer, legendary comedian, actor, and writer Larry Wilmore will host the 2023 Sentinel Awards, taking place Wednesday, December 6 at the Writer’s Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, CA. These awards honor some of the past year’s best TV entertainment that responsibly inform audiences on topics including systemic racism, A.I., the climate crisis, diplomacy, reproductive health, mental health, economic disparities, and more.

For more than 20 years, Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, has presented the Sentinel Awards. This year’s ceremony will see the introduction of a brand new trophy. Modeled after Hollywood, Health & Society’s emblem, it honors the power of the pen, inspired by the brave writers and storytellers who will receive it. Entries from broadcast, cable and streaming network shows were all eligible, and represent a range of topics on health, safety and security. The final 11 honorees will be announced at the ceremony.

“Hollywood, Health and Society’s Sentinel Awards couldn’t be back at a more timely moment as we embark on celebrating the writers and thought leaders who have tackled stories with an incredible responsibility,” host Larry Wilmore says. I look forward to hosting and turning the spotlight on these narratives that capture human truths, especially ones that we have a hard time talking about.”

Emmy Award winner Larry Wilmore has been a television producer, actor, comedian, and writer for more than 25 years. He can currently be heard as host of Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air on The Ringer Podcast Network. Larry is currently in development on the comedy series Lately for ABC, a behind-the-scenes look at the upstairs-downstairs dynamics of the people who work at a late-night talk show. He also serves as executive producer, alongside Kerry Washington, in the Hulu legal drama Reasonable Doubt for Hulu’s Onyx Collective. From September-December 2020, Larry hosted and executive produced a limited weekly special talk series WILMORE for NBC’s streaming service Peacock focusing not only on the 2020 Presidential Election, but on the topics that America is talking about. Wilmore is perhaps best known for his role as host of Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and from appearances as the “Senior Black Correspondent” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Wilmore also served as co-creator and consulting producer on HBO’s Insecure, executive producer on ABC’s black-ish, and is a co-creator of the spin-off Grownish. In April 2016, Wilmore hosted the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, DC.

“Television has the power to affect audiences and the way they see the world around them long after the credits roll, so while entertainment comes first, it should never come at the cost of accuracy,” said Kate Folb, program director for Hollywood, Health & Society.

Last year’s awards drew stars such as Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams of Abbott Elementary; Hannah Einbinder and Paul W. Downs of Hacks; Sarah Podemski from Reservation Dogs; Shoniqua Shandai, Jerrie Johnson and Meagan Good of Harlem; and Allison Miller from A Million Little Things. Actress, producer and host Yvette Nicole Brown was the host. The annual celebration recognized 12 shows whose storytelling tackled powerful and timely topics, including Emmy nominees and winners Dopesick, Abbott Elementary and Hacks, as well as A Million Little Things, Never Have I Ever and Reservation Dogs, the breakout coming-of-age series about four indigenous teen-age friends living in rural Oklahoma.

The ceremony will be co-written by Ann Slichter and Shelly Goldstein, returning for the 2023 Sentinel Awards. Slichter is an Emmy nominee and WGA Award-winning head writer for NBC’s Weakest Link and Hollywood Game Night. Her credits also include Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the Directors Guild of America Awards and the People’s Choice Awards. In 2023 she served as a Warner Brothers Lot Coordinator and WGA Strike Captain. Goldstein has written dozens of awards shows, such as the WGA, NARAS MusiCares, and People for the American Way. She wrote the PBS Emmy-winning Great Performances: Chicago Voices, and special material for such artists as Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lily Tomlin and Stephen Colbert.

HH&S provides entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for storylines dealing with health, safety and security through consultations and briefings with experts. Based at the Lear Center, HH&S is a free resource for writers, producers and others in search of credible information. Past and present support for HH&S has come from funders that include the CDC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The SCAN Foundation, the California Health Care Foundation, the John Pritzker Family Fund, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For more information about resources for writers, go to www.HollywoodHealthandSociety.org

Founded more than 20 years ago, The Norman Lear Center is a multidisciplinary research and public policy center studying and shaping the impact of entertainment and media on society. From its base in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Lear Center builds bridges among faculty who study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the gap between the entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. For more information, visit www.learcenter.org.

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is among the nation’s leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. USC Annenberg offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in journalism, communication, public diplomacy and public relations. For more information, visit www.annenberg.usc.edu.