American Public Television Presents 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award

Chef, public television legend Jacques Pépin honored with APT Lifetime Achievement Award

Atlanta (Nov. 10, 2015) – American Public Television (APT), a leading distributor of programming to the nation’s public television stations, today presented its 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award to chef Jacques Pépin at its annual Fall Marketplace meeting. The organization last bestowed the award in 2011, to iconic public television journalist Bill Moyers.

APT President and CEO Cynthia Fenneman honored Pépin for his numerous contributions to public television, including starring in nine series and three specials representing more than 107 hours of programming to public television stations nationwide.

Pépin’s history with APT spans nearly two decades — from his debut in Jacques Pépin's Kitchen: Cooking With Claudine (1996) to his latest (and final) series, Heart & Soul (2015). His series remain a staple on public television stations and, for more than a decade, a mainstay on Create TV, public television’s premier lifestyle channel. To celebrate his 80th birthday, Create will run a weekend-long marathon of Pépin’s programs on December 12 and 13.

Pépin’s other public TV titles, often featuring his friends and family, include: Essential Pépin (2011); Jacques Pépin: More Fast Food My Way (2008); Artist's Table: Jacques Pépin and Itzhak Perlman (2008); Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way (2004); Jacques Pépin : The Apprentice - Then & Now (2003); Jacques Pépin Celebrates! I & II (2001); Chez Pépin (2000); Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999); and Jacques Pépin's Kitchen II: Encore With Claudine (1998). He's also made guest appearances on Simply Ming, Moveable Feast With Fine Cooking and other public television shows.

Beloved and respected by his fans and peers alike, Pépin has been recognized by virtually every major culinary organization in the United States. In October, he received the inaugural Julia Child Foundation Award – a meaningful honor for Pépin, whose decades-long friendship with Child lasted until her death in 2004. Their Emmy- and James Beard Foundation Award-winning collaboration, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999), opened a window on their charming chemistry and shared love of French cooking.

A prolific author, Pépin has penned 25 cookbooks, including the recently released companion cookbook to Heart & Soul and the hugely influential La Technique (1976). His literary efforts earned him a place in the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 1996 and their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

A personal chef to three French heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle, Pépin received France’s highest civilian honor, the Legion of Honor, in 2004. He continues to teach at Boston University and serves as the dean of special programs at the International Culinary Center in New York City. A gifted painter, Pépin has expanded his focus on landscape and floral subjects to explore abstract expressionism.

About APT
American Public Television (APT) has been a leading syndicator of high-quality, top-rated programming to the nation’s public television stations since 1961. For 10 years, APT has annually distributed one-third or more of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles in the U. S. Among its 300 new program titles per year, APT programs include prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramas, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies. America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Rick Steves’ Europe, Front and Center, Doc Martin, Nightly Business Report, Midsomer Murders, Vera, NHK Newsline, Lidia’s Kitchen, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, and P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home join numerous documentaries and performance programs popular with public television viewers. APT licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. Now in its 10th year, Create® TV — featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming — is distributed by APT. APT also distributes WORLD™, public television’s premier news, science and documentary channel. To find out more about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org.