Various Emmy events competitions are held annually throughout the calendar year, ranging from honoring nationally televised shows to regionally and locally produced programs. Each event has its own set of award categories, nominating and voting procedures, and rules regarding voting committees, among others. It is not uncommon for one event to have some of the same category names that another event uses. (e.g.
Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series and
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series). A show that enters one of the Emmy events generally cannot also be entered into any of the others. For example,
syndicated shows whose air times vary between media markets may be eligible for both the Daytime and Primetime Emmys, but cannot enter in both. In general, a show is considered national if it reaches more than 50 percent of U.S. households; programs that do not reach at least 50 percent of the country may enter into the Regional Emmys instead.
Streaming television shows are treated similarly to syndicated shows: they must be available for downloading or streaming by more than 50 percent of the US national market to be eligible in one of the national Emmy competitions, and they can only enter into one of those national Emmy ceremonies. And a primetime show that is a
co-production between U.S. and overseas companies might be eligible for both the Primetime and International Emmys, but also cannot enter in both.
Primetime holding a
Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 during the rehearsal of the
45th Primetime Emmy Awards, in September 1993 The
Primetime Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. Ceremonies generally are held in mid-September, on the Sunday before the official start of the fall television season, and are currently broadcast in rotation among the
ABC,
CBS,
NBC, and
Fox networks, each network taking turns to air the ceremony every four years. Some award categories presented to behind-the-scenes personnel such as
art directors,
costume designers,
cinematographers,
casting directors, and
sound designers are awarded at a separate
Creative Arts Emmys ceremony held a few days earlier. The Primetime Emmys are run and voted on by members of the ATAS. For most categories, members from each of the ATAS's branches vote around June to determine the nominees only in their respective categories. All members can vote for nominations in the best program categories. The final voting to determine the winners is held in August.
Daytime accepting
Daytime Emmy Awards for his work on the daytime
soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful in 2010 The
Daytime Emmy Awards, generally held in May or June, are presented in recognition of excellence in American
daytime television programming. The awards ceremony traditionally took place in May or June; in 2025 it was moved to October. The first daytime-themed Emmy Awards were given out at the primetime ceremony in 1972, but the first separate awards show made just for daytime programming was not held until 1974. Like the Primetime Emmys, a separate Creative Arts Emmy ceremony is also held a few days earlier to honor the behind-the-scenes personnel working in daytime television. The Daytime Emmys are run and voted on by members of the NATAS. Voting is done by peer judging panels. Any active member of the NATAS who has national credits for at least two years and within the last five years is eligible to be a judge. Depending on the category, voting is done using either a ratings score criteria or a preferential scoring system. All the drama acting categories have an additional preliminary voting round called the pre-nominations, where one or two actors from each show is selected to then move on and be considered for the primary nominations for the awards.
Sports The Sports Emmy Awards are presented by the NATAS for excellence in
sports programming. The awards ceremony takes place every Spring, usually sometime in the last two weeks in April or the first week in May and is held on a Monday night in New York City. Voting is done by peer judging panels. The NATAS solicits anybody with significant experience in national sports production to serve as judges. The panels are organized so that they only have one representative from each corporate entity (i.e.
Paramount Global,
Disney,
NBCUniversal,
Fox Corporation,
Warner Bros. Discovery etc.) Most categories only have a single voting round using preferential scoring system. The top 5 entries in each category are announced as the nominations, and then the top entry is announced as the Emmy winner later at the awards ceremony.
News and documentary The News & Documentary Emmy Awards are presented by the NATAS for excellence in
national news and documentary programming. The awards ceremony traditionally took place every fall; in 2025 it was moved to June. Voting is done by peer judging panels. The NATAS solicits anybody with significant experience in national news or documentary reporting or production to serve as judges. Most categories have two voting rounds, with separate judging panels in each round. The top entries in each category are announced as the nominations, and then the top entry is announced as the Emmy winner later at the awards ceremony.
Children's and family On November 17, 2021, the NATAS announced that it would begin to present the Children's & Family Emmys Awards beginning in 2022, for excellence in children's and family television. Previously, most award categories for children's and family television programs fell under the scope of the Daytime Emmys, while those programs that aired primarily in primetime fell under the Primetime Emmys. The NATAS stated that this new ceremony was necessary due to an explosive growth of children's and family programming within the last several years. Secondly, the ATAS retired its primetime children's television categories in 2020, agreeing with the NATAS to move all such award categories to the Daytime Emmys, citing that the proliferation of
streaming services had created confusion over whether children's programs should fall under the Daytime or Primetime awards. Generally, the NATAS's Technology & Engineering Emmys ceremony is held in January, while the ATAS's Primetime Engineering Emmys are presented in October. Each academy has its own separate panel of highly qualified, experienced engineers in the television industry to determine their respective award recipients. Among the ATAS's Engineering Emmy Award repertoire is the
Philo T. Farnsworth Award, given to honor companies who have significantly affected the state of television and broadcast engineering over a long period of time.
Regional holding a
New England Emmy Award in 2011 news director
Maria Rozman, winner of three
National Capitol/Chesapeake Bay Regional Emmy Awards in 2018 There are 20 regional chapters located across the United States that each conduct regional awards to recognize excellence in all the regional
television markets, including state to state programming as well as
local news and
locally produced shows. Nineteen of the regional chapters are affiliated with the NATAS, while the Los Angeles–based ATAS acts as the regional chapter serving the Los Angeles area. In general, a show is considered regional if it does not reach more than 50 percent of U.S. households; programs that reach more than 50 percent of the country must enter into one of the national Emmy competitions instead. Like the national awards, each region goes through their own nomination and voting procedures. Committees are formed to review entries for eligibility and high standards. Once accepted, each entry goes before different review committees, and their votes are cast to determine the final nominees. The final votes are then calculated by certified accounting firms within each region. Donn Johnson, president of the Pacific Southwest chapter said in 2018: "The Emmy Award is considered the most prestigious award a television professional can receive". Originally, each Regional Emmy Awards ceremony primarily focused on only honoring individuals in local news programming. The award ceremony generally takes place in November in
New York City. In general, any non-U.S. organization or individual (such as a network, a local or regional television station, producer, director, or writer) may submit a program, regardless of whether they are a member of the IATAS. For shows that are
co-produced between U.S. and foreign production companies, they may be eligible if they initially aired outside of the U.S., or if their broadcast dates were within a few days of each other. A program that enters into the international competition cannot also be entered into any of the domestic ones.
Student The
College Television Awards are presented by the ATAS in recognition of excellence in college student-produced works. College students nationwide can submit productions and receive recognition in such categories as Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Music, Newscasts, and Series. Entries are first judged by members of the ATAS specializing in each respective field. Winners are then selected by Blue Ribbon Panels. Any work submitted must include a form signed from a faculty advisor to verify that it was produced for a school related group, project, or class. Similarly, the
National Student Production Awards are presented by the NATAS in recognition of excellence in high school student-produced works. High school students nationwide can submit productions and receive recognition in news, craft and programming categories.
Governors and trustees The Governors Award is the highest award presented by the ATAS, honoring the achievements of an individual, company or organization whose works stand out with the immediacy of current achievement. The Trustees Award is the highest award presented by NATAS, honoring the unusual or enduring achievements of an individual.
Humanitarian and public service The
Bob Hope Humanitarian Award is awarded by the ATAS Board of Governors to an individual in the industry whose humanitarian work has a lasting impact on society. The Public Service Award is for
public service announcements and programming to "advance the common good". ==Criticism==