![\"THE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781702112_623_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nFine-tuning Emmy Awards categories isn\u2019t unusual for the Television Academy in any given year. Case in point, the upcoming 78th edition will feature changes to category names (Outstanding TV Movie is now Outstanding Movie) and rule clarifications (for Outstanding Main Theme Title Music, both the main and main-on-end of a program will be eligible).<\/p>\n
But creating a new award altogether is more of a rarity \u2014 the last time the academy did it was 2007, when it inaugurated the Honors Award to recognize programming that drives positive social change. Well, until now: This year marks the first-ever Legacy Award, \u201cpresented to television programs that have made a \u2018profound and lasting impact\u2019 on audiences and remain relevant to society, culture and the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Fox)<\/p>\n
To find out why it took the academy this long to create the award, who actually receives the Emmy statue and when it will be given, The Envelope spoke with Television Academy President and Chief Executive Maury McIntyre.<\/p>\n
How early did the talks start about creating the Legacy Award?<\/p>\n
In general, we\u2019re talking about awards throughout the year. We have an awards committee that meets almost every other month to talk about changes just in terms of either things we have seen at the academy or things that other peer groups or the governors themselves have brought up.<\/p>\n
![\"Sherman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781702112_380_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson and Isabel Sanford as Louise Jefferson in \u201cThe Jeffersons.\u201d<\/p>\n
(CBS)<\/p>\n
But the Legacy Award came about because of a conversation with Pearlena Igbokwe [chairman, Television Studios, NBC Entertainment and Peacock Scripted]. She asked, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we do an award that celebrates shows that have had a long-lasting impact?\u201d And we were all like, \u201cThat\u2019s a really great idea. We should have done this years ago.\u201d It was just one of those things that when people ask, \u201cWhy now?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cBecause we were idiots and didn\u2019t think about it until now.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was the process for getting it approved and making it a reality?<\/p>\n
Once Pearlena gave me the idea, I worked with our awards department to flesh it out. I took it back to our executive committee to say, \u201cHere is what we would propose it maybe [should] look like.\u201d We got some feedback from them, so once that happened, we [took] it to the awards committee. Since the Legacy Award is going to be an Emmy, it goes to them for their consideration. They made some changes and then once they review it, if they approve it, it then goes to the board for official approval to move forward.<\/p>\n
![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781702112_670_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
William Shatner, left, in an episode of \u201cThe Twilight Zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
(USA Network)<\/p>\n
Was the name always the Legacy Award?<\/p>\n
It has been the Legacy Award ever since it got presented and once that happens, how could you call it something else? We have a Hall of Fame for professionals who work in the industry and we need a Hall of Fame for shows that really stood the test of time and that\u2019s a little bit what the Legacy Award is.<\/p>\n
Since the award goes to a show, who receives a statue?<\/p>\n
The way it\u2019s worded, it\u2019s supposed to go to the top creative individuals who made the show and its legacy. If you give a Governors Award to a program, it usually goes to the main distribution partner but then up to four or five executive producers that had the most to do with the longevity of the show.<\/p>\n
This is the first year we\u2019re giving it, but we may find that there could be a director who actually directed most of the episodes and they deserve some of the award. For us, again, it\u2019s really about who in that core creative team helped give this its long life.<\/p>\n
![\""Homicide:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781702113_261_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Ellen McElduff, left, Charles Clause, Richard Belzer and Yaphet Kotto in \u201cHomicide: Life on the Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Robert Gilberg \/ NBC)<\/p>\n
Per the release, show nominations come from board of governors and special committees but also \u201cindividuals who may suggest recipients in a letter to the Television Academy.\u201d Can anyone nominate a show? <\/p>\n
Absolutely. Submit a letter! Part of this award is it has made a lasting impact on the audience, so we want to hear from the audience. What touched you and what still means something to you?<\/p>\n
The rules also state shows must have a minimum of 60 episodes over at least five seasons to be eligible, which excludes big shows like \u201cTed Lasso\u201d or \u201cSuccession,\u201d for example.<\/p>\n
We went back and forth on what\u2019s the right number and how many years. We may get into it in 10 years and realize we are losing out on some of the most impactful shows because we\u2019re not allowing it to be three seasons or whatever. We think that right now we\u2019ve got a large cohort that we can get to with what we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n
And how\u2019s the conversation going about when and where the award will be given?<\/p>\n
It will probably continue to be a conversation until we know who the award is going to. Once we know the [recipient of the] Governors Award or the Bob Hope Award, then we can have a conversation. Does the network want to showcase that? Does it make more sense to put in the Creative Arts Emmys? Or Televerse, our new festival that occurs in August? We have a number of places to do it and I think it\u2019s just a matter of \u201cWhere does it fit the best?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fine-tuning Emmy Awards categories isn\u2019t unusual for the Television Academy in any given year. Case in point, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1864,6758,10800,15042,2847,147902,943,48,52,51,8844,47,50,49,147904,147905,4576,1860,147903,4610,72],"class_list":["post-364199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-audience","tag-award","tag-change","tag-conversation","tag-fame","tag-first-ever-legacy-award","tag-governor","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-last-time","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-new-legacy-award","tag-pearlena-igbokwe","tag-program","tag-show","tag-television-academy","tag-thing","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}