Presented by American Prairie
Named in honor of America’s most revered visual historian and documentary filmmaker, the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize celebrates a distinguished and visionary individual whose achievements in the arts, education, literature/history, or science/conservation have advanced our collective understanding of the indomitable American spirit.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The recipient of the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize is selected annually by the Prize’s National Jury, which is comprised of distinguished leaders who represent communities across the country and share a common appreciation of America’s heritage.
About Ken Burns
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost 50 years. Since the Academy Award®-nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The War, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Prohibition, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, The Vietnam War, Country Music, The U.S. and the Holocaust, and, most recently, The American Buffalo.
Future film projects include Leonardo da Vinci, The American Revolution, Emancipation to Exodus, and LBJ & the Great Society, among others.
Ken’s films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including 16 Emmy® Awards, two GRAMMY Awards, and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy® Awards, Ken was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November of 2022, Ken was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
About American Prairie
American Prairie’s mission is to create the largest nature reserve in the contiguous United States, a spectacular refuge for people and wildlife preserved forever as part of America’s heritage.
Since its founding in 2001, American Prairie has grown to more than 460,000 acres in northeastern Montana, on which fences have been removed, natural wildlife habitats restored, a bison herd numbering nearly 900 established and native vegetation returned. Migratory paths in Lewis and Clark country along the Missouri River are again attracting wildlife that once roamed freely throughout the West, signaling the progress of the restoration of America’s natural wilderness heritage — one that once captured the imagination of explorers the world over.