Three FRONTLINE documentaries — Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos, The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and For Sama — were named 2021 duPont-Columbia University Awards finalists on Thursday.

Of the 30 finalists announced by the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, FRONTLINE led the pack with its three nominations for duPont Silver Batons. The three programs recognized reflect the breadth of FRONTLINE’s long-form investigative reporting on both domestic and international issues.

• As politicians and regulators around the world start to consider the global impact of Amazon — and how to curb its CEO and founder Jeff Bezos’ power — Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos (2020) producers James Jacoby and Anya Bourg investigate how Bezos built one of the most influential, and controversial, economic and cultural forces in the world.
• Correspondent Martin Smith, a FRONTLINE reporter on the Middle East for more than 20 years, offers a yearlong reporting analysis on the ascent of Mohammed bin Salman in The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (2019). Debuting on PBS one year after the 2018 murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, this two-hour investigation examines the rise and rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — as well as the crown prince’s vision for the future, his handling of dissent, his relationship with the United States and his ties to Khashoggi’s killing.
• Filmed by Waad al-Kateab over five years of the brutal Syrian conflict, For Sama (2019) captures al-Kateab’s life in Aleppo — as she falls in love, gets married to one of the city’s last doctors, becomes a mother, and faces the impossible choice of whether to stay or flee as her city crumbles. Directed by al-Kateab and Edward Watts, and narrated as a message to al-Kateab’s daughter Sama, the award-winning documentary chronicles the haunting realities of the Syrian conflict. Earlier this year, For Sama was honored with a 2020 Peabody Award, a 2020 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international TV category, and the John Seigenthaler Prize for Courage in Reporting. The film was also nominated for a 2020 Academy Award for Best Documentary feature and received the 2020 BAFTA for Best Documentary feature.

“We are proud to have three documentaries recognized as duPont-Columbia Award finalists,” says FRONTLINE’s executive producer, Raney Aronson-Rath. “It is an honor to see our deeply reported investigative documentaries — and the fearless, truth-seeking reporters who made them — acknowledged in this way.”

In an official statement from the duPont-Columbia Awards, the organization expressed that this year’s finalists “covered the most critical, and in some cases dangerous, stories of the year.”

The winners of the 2021 duPont-Columbia Awards will be announced in January 2021. You can read the full list of this year’s finalists here and watch the three FRONTLINE documentaries recognized below.

Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos:

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The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia:

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For Sama:

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