Magic Penny Award

Mrs. Joan Ganz Cooney

We are pleased to announce The Children's Music Network's 2022 Magic Penny Award recipient, Mrs. Joan Ganz Cooney. 

Joan Ganz Cooney, originator of the preschool educational series Sesame Street, was co-founder in 1968 of Children’s Television Workshop (renamed Sesame Workshop June 2000) and served as President and Chief Executive Officer until 1990.

Sesame Street, the first preschool program to integrate education and entertainment and feature a multi-cultural cast, is the longest running children’s program in U.S. television history. It has been watched by millions of children in more than 150 countries and is currently seen on both HBO Max and PBS, where it has aired daily on stations across the U.S. since 1969. International co-productions of Sesame Street reflecting local languages, customs, and educational needs have been produced for audiences all over the world.

Following the successful launch of Sesame Street, Mrs. Cooney and her colleagues created other award-winning children’s series on network and public television, including The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One TV, Ghostwriter, CRO, Big Bag, Dragon Tales, Sagwa the Chinese Cat, and Pinky Dinky Doo, all bringing science, mathematics, reading, and new experiences to life. 

Sesame Street has won a record-breaking 205 Emmy Awards and has received scores of other honors, such as ten Grammy Awards and five George Foster Peabody Awards, including an Institutional Peabody. In 2019, Sesame Street celebrated its historic 50th anniversary with a yearlong celebration featuring a cross-country road trip and a New York City street-naming, culminating in becoming the first-ever television program to be selected as a Kennedy Center Honoree. Sesame Workshop, among many other honors, received the inaugural Global Impact Clio Award and a Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award and is widely known for powerful social impact work helping vulnerable children across the U.S. and internationally.

LEARN MORE about Joan Ganz Cooney, and join us for our award ceremony steamed live for our conference attendees. Sunday, November 5, 2023 at 10:30am ET