Emmys: Honoring Excellence in Television & Beyond

The American and international television industries are honored for artistic and technical excellence through the “Emmy Awards“, or “Emmys“. Throughout the course of the year, a number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are conducted, each with its own set of regulations and award categories. The Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards, which recognize excellent work in American primetime and daytime entertainment television, respectively, are the two occasions that draw the most media attention.

The Children’s & Family Emmy Awards, given out for children’s and family-friendly television programming, the Sports Emmy Awards, given out for sports programming, the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, given out for news and documentary programs, and the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, as well as the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards, given out for technological and engineering achievements, are all noteworthy U.S. national Emmy events. Additionally, Regional Emmy Awards are given out across the nation at different points of the year to celebrate the best in regional and local television. Additionally, the International Emmy Awards celebrate the best television content created and first shown outside of the United States.

Presented By

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS), and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) are the three connected but distinct organizations that present the Emmys. Each of these three companies is in charge of organizing a specific set of Emmy Award ceremonies. Before it became a national event in the 1950s to reward shows broadcast worldwide, the ATAS initially presented Emmy Awards in 1949 to honor shows produced in the Los Angeles region. The award was later broadened by the ATAS, the NATAS, and the IATAS to honor additional facets of the TV industry over the next two decades.

History

The Emmy Award was established by the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) as a means of public relations and image enhancement. On January 25, 1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, the first Emmy Awards were presented, but only for programs developed and broadcast locally in the Los Angeles region. Shirley Dinsdale holds the distinction of being the first recipient of the Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality. “Emmy” is a French adaptation of the television crew slang term “Immy,” which refers to a camera tube called an “image orthicon” that was originally used in TV cameras.

For shows that were nationally broadcast in the US, there used to be just one Emmy event conducted each year. The first Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony was held in 1974 to honor excellence in national daytime programming. Soon after, additional regional Emmy occasions occurred. Additionally, in the early 1970s, the International Emmy Awards were created to honor television shows created and first broadcast outside of the United States. The Primetime Emmy Awards are mentioned in the ATAS’s official records alongside all Emmys given before the establishment of these distinct, region-specific events.

Statuette

Television engineer Louis McManus used his wife as the model to create the Emmy statuette, which features a winged woman clutching an atom. Before choosing McManus’s design in 1948, the ATAS turned down 47 proposals. The statuette “has since become a symbol of the TV Academy’s mission to promote and elevate the art and science of television: The wings represent the muse of art; the atom represents the electron of science.”

The Emmy statuette’s size and weight vary depending on the occasion. Each Primetime Emmy statuette weighs six pounds twelve and a half ounces (3.08 kg) and is made of copper, nickel, silver, and gold. The statue stands 15.5 inches (39 cm) tall with a base diameter of 7.5 inches (19 cm) and a weight of 88 ounces (2.5 kg). The Regional Emmy Award statuette is 11.5 inches (29 cm) tall with a base diameter of 5.5 inches (14 cm) and a weight of 48 ounces (1.4 kg). Each one is handcrafted in five and a half hours and handled with white gloves to avoid fingerprints.

Memorable Emmy Moments

Throughout its history, the Emmy Awards have had moments that captured the zeitgeist:

Historic Wins: Viola Davis became the first African-American to win the Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, highlighting the strides towards inclusivity.

Powerful Speeches: From actors speaking out on social issues to writers and directors sharing poignant personal stories, Emmy acceptance speeches have often transcended the ceremony itself.
Surprising Upsets: Every so often, dark horse’s surprise by clinching the award, proving that in the world of television, predictability isn’t always the norm.

Types

Every year, throughout the course of the year, a number of Emmy events competitions are hosted, celebrating both regionally and locally produced programs as well as nationally televised shows. Each event has its own set of award categories, nomination, and voting processes, voting committee regulations, and other specifics. It happens frequently for one event to use some of the same category names as another.