Professor Receives National Gracie Award® for Film about Girl Scout Troop

AUSTIN, Texas – March 1, 2007 – Ellen Spiro, associate professor in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at The University of Texas at Austin, has been recognized with a national Gracie Award for her documentary, “Troop 1500—Girl Scouts Beyond Bars,” which follows a Texas girl scout troop whose mothers are in prison.

Spiro, who has directed and produced an extensive body of award-winning documentary work, directed the film, which aired on the PBS series Independent Lens in 2005. She will receive an Individual Achievement Award for Outstanding Directing at the American Women in Radio and Television gala in New York City on June 19.

“Troop 1500—Girl Scouts Beyond Bars” is the story of the girls of Troop 1500 in the Lone Star Girl Scout Council – and their mothers – trying to hold together their families from behind the walls of Hilltop Prison in Gatesville, Texas.

Spiro’s films include “Diana’s Hair Ego,” “Greetings from out Here,” “Roam Sweet Home,” “Atomic Ed and the Black Hole” and “Are the Kids Alright?” Her work has been broadcast on PBS, HBO, BBC and CBS. She also is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Rockefeller Fellowships, a Lone Star Emmy and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

Each year, the Gracie awards recognize exemplary programming created for women, by women and about women in all facets of electronic media, as well as individuals who have made contributions to the industry. The Gracie Allen awards encourage the realistic and faceted portrayal of women in entertainment, commercials, news, features and other programs.

For more information about the Gracie Allen Awards, please visit www.awrt.org.

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Contacts: Erin Geisler

(512) 475-8071

Erin.geisler@austin.utexas.edu

Ellen Spiro

(512) 471-6643

spirovich@yahoo.com