The Emmys Will Give Out a Major Award This Year, and We Already Know Who Won It
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The 2022 Emmy Awards is finally here, and like all great award shows, the night has been filled with glam outfits, emotional speeches, and big wins for some of your fave celebs. And while most awards shows are generally pretty straightforward events—ya know, celebs get dressed up and win or lose little shiny statues—there is one trophy at the Emmy Awards you might need some background on: the Emmys' Governors Award.
Or, technically, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Governors Award, since that's the organization that gives out Emmys. (By the way, did you know the "Emmy" name came from the nickname for an early television part? Fun, nerdy fact.) Here's all you need to know about the special award and this year's recipient, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
What is the Governors Award at the Emmys?
According to the official Emmys site, the Governors Award is a special honor from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences that recognizes "an individual, company, or organization that has made a profound, transformational, and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television."
So basically, rather than honoring a specific achievement from the past year—as with the acting and writing awards, for example—this award celebrates an achievement for TV as a whole over a longer period of time.
The Governors Award is generally given out every year, but there have been a few years when the Academy elected to skip picking a recipient. The most recent year the award was skipped was 2019.
Who has won the Governors Award?
Recent recipients of the Governors Award include choreographer and actor Debbie Allen in 2021, producer Tyler Perry and the Perry Foundation in 2020, and Star Trek in 2018. As you can see, the award can go to a person, a foundation, or an entire franchise!
Who is getting the Governors Award this year?
At the 2022 Emmy Awards, the Governors Award went to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The organization—which was founded by the A League of Their Own star in 2004—is being honored for "their efforts to promote gender balance and foster inclusion throughout the entertainment industry."
The award was presented by Shonda Rhimes and Sarah Paulson this year, and Geena Davis took to the stage alongside President and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media Madeline Di Nonno in order to accept the award. And while she kept her speech short and sweet, Geena made her message clear: Representation matters.
According to the institute's site, it's the "only global research-based organization working collaboratively within the entertainment industry to create gender balance, foster inclusion, and reduce negative stereotyping in family entertainment media."
When this year's honoree was first announced, Geena herself said in a statement, "We are incredibly honored to receive this award from the Board of Governors in recognition of our work. We know that in many sectors of our society true gender equality may take many years to achieve, but there's one space where parity can be reached virtually overnight: on screen."
Congrats to Geena, Madeline, and everyone at Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media who's working to make representation accurate on our screens.
You Might Also Like
