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Emmy
Awards Online: A History of the Emmys
Movies have
the Oscars, Broadway has its Tonys, and television has... the Emmys. Ever
since January 1949, when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
first presented them at the Hollywood Athletic Club, the Emmy Awards have
been the most highly visible and prestigous honor earned for achievement
in television. The first Emmy recipient was Shirley Dinsdale and her puppet,
Judy Splinters, winning for the category of "Most Outstanding Television
Personality". The name "Emmy" was a feminization of "immy",
a nickname used for the image orthicon tubes that were common in early
television cameras.
The statuette
of a winged woman holding an atom has since become the symbol of the TV
Academy's goal of supporting and uplifting the arts and science of television:
The wings represent the muse of art; the atom the electron of science.
It was created by television engineer Louis McManus, using his wife as
a model.
The Emmy Awards have
not, however, been without their share of controversy. Foremost is the fact
that actors and actresses who win for a recurring role in a show that lasts
years can keep winning over and over, leaving no room to recognize other
talents. Though the academy has weathered much of this controversy, some
still remains.
The awards
themselves are broken down into three distinct categories, two of which
are popularly recognized. They are the Prime Time Awards, the Daytime
Awards. The LA Area Awards are given to excellence in broadcast by local
LA television or cable television systems. In 1949, when they were new,
only six trophies were handed out. Today, hundreds of Emmys are won each
year for both these national and local programs.
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