Why There Are No Animated Short Form 2023 Emmy Nominees

Bill Desowitz
·3 min read

The animation community was taken aback at the July 12 announcement that there would be no Emmy awarded this season for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program. The category was shut out for the first time since its inception in 2008 (when it was called Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Animated Program). The TV Academy stated: “Submissions were prescreened to determine nominations. None of the submissions received nine-tenths approval, resulting in no nominations this year.”

For the first time, there were only seven submissions for the category, which triggered a special rule calling for a select panel of animation members to review them. A nomination required nine out of 10 votes of approval. None of the entries passed the threshold.

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The seven submissions consisted of: “Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection” (Max), eight shorts created by 12 underrepresented artists as part of a special HBO/Warner Bros. program; “Maggie Simpson In: Rogue Not Quite One” (Disney+); “More Than I Want to Remember,” (MTV Entertainment Studios), Amy Bench’s animated documentary about a young woman who fled the war-torn Congo to America; “Star Wars: Visions” (Episode 3 “In the Stars,” Disney+); “Bianca Saves Christmas!” (RuPaul’s Drag Race YouTube channel); “Vindicators 2: Last Stand Between Earth And Doom” (the “Rick and Morty” spin-off web series on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel); and “Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi” (Episode 1 “Life And Death,” Disney+).

The category exclusion stirred confusion and anger among voters, who couldn’t believe that none of the works was nomination worthy. Indeed, Season 1 of “Star Wars: Visions” (“The Duel”) was nominated last season and a “Maggie Simpson” short was nominated in 2021.

One anonymous Academy animation member told IndieWire that the category exclusion was a sign of disrespect to the animators and creators from the shows and demonstrates how little animation is valued. They also contended that voters were not given proper context and were unaware of the potential for no nominations.

However, a Television Academy spokesperson told IndieWire: “Panelists were instructed to judge each submission on its own merits and vote, yes, the submission is worthy of a nomination, or, no, the submission is not worthy.”

Another assertion is that the reason for the historically low submissions for the category is that some were siphoned off by the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, which has its own Outstanding Short Form Program category. This separate awards show, from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, is now in its second season and will take place in December in New York City. Academy members have voiced their concerns and are hoping for adjustments in the future.

“The Television Academy has seen a decline in submissions to the short form Animation category for the past decade,” the spokesperson said. “So, though it is true that the decision to launch the Children’s and Family Emmys as a separate ceremony caused both Academies to be more diligent in assessing which animation submissions go to which competition, that can only be a part of the decline seen in this year’s submissions.”

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