Episode one of Money, Power and Wall Street, FRONTLINE’s four-hour investigation into the global financial crisis, received a Writers Guild Award in the Documentary – Current Events category last night. Produced by Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria, the episode explored how the the rapid rise of credit default swaps, originally designed to stabilize the economic system, brought the global economy to its knees.

Today it also was announced that the full four-hour series produced by Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria, Michael Kirk, Jim Gilmore and Mike Wiser will receive the George Polk Award for Documentary Television Reporting in April. From the award citation:

It provided a thorough examination of the epic global financial crisis, from its origins to the present day. The team drew on more than 140 in-depth interviews, conducted around the world, with people tangentially or directly responsible for the crisis. In blunt, first-hand accounts, viewers were given an unprecedented look inside key decisions that affected the lives of ordinary people around the country and a play-by-play road map of what ultimately would shatter the global economy. The series also dissected and distilled down the complicated subject of the modern credit derivative market and provided a sober look inside the struggle to rescue and repair this country’s battered economy.

You can watch all four hours of the series on our website, and also watch, read and share dozens of in-depth interviews that provide first-hand testimony inside the financial crisis and its aftermath.