Ken Burns

Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will share insights from four decades at Macky Auditorium at the University of Colorado Boulder on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. At the public event, the Center of the American West’s Patty Limerick will present Burns with this year’s Wallace Stegner Award. The award is granted to an individual who has made a sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West through literature, art, history, lore or an understanding of the region. Former Wallace Stegner Award recipients include Sandra Day O’Connor, former Supreme Court justice, Ted Turner, entrepreneur and philanthropist, John McPhee, The New Yorker contributor and Pulitzer Prize winner. Limerick and Burns will explore the extraordinary public service Burns has provided to his fellow citizens, as well as the original ways in which he has brought visual images and spoken words into a dynamic relationship with each other. “By lending his own vitality and spirit to the people of the past, Ken Burns has brought history to life for millions of viewers, enhancing our understanding of the West and the nation in ways beyond measure,” said Limerick. Burns’ films, such as “Brooklyn Bridge,” “Jazz,” “Jackie Robinson,” and most recently, “The Vietnam War,” have been honored with several major recognitions, including 15 Emmy Awards and nominations, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Burns received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. His work on the American West includes “Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery,” “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” and “The Dust Bowl.” The University of Colorado Boulder’s Center of the American West, the Center for Humanities and the Arts and the Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts are jointly hosting the event. [Organizer's description]