A Roundup Of The TV Awards Shows

How many times throughout the year have you sit down in front of your 50-inch or larger TV and you see the announcement of the next awards show pop up on your TV screen?

It seems to happen so many times that I am beginning to wonder how many awards shows are there now besides the Academy Awards; the one that started it all. Also, why are there so many of them? It seems there is an awards show for almost every category or subject people thrive to make achievements in. I will try to roundup some of the most notable awards shows that most of us have probably heard about.

The Academy Awards is the granddaddy of all the awards shows currently on TV. This show is sometimes called the “The Oscars” in the typical Hollywood conversation after the name of the golden statuette. The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS) awards Oscar statuettes to one or several individuals for recognition of outstanding achievement in motion picture in several categories such as “Best Picture”, Best Actor”, “Best Supporting Actor”, etc. The Oscars are presented to the honorees usually in February to early March. The first Oscar statuette was presented on May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for the 1927/1928-film season. The awards show was first broadcasted live in 1953 and later moved to the Kodak Theatre where it has been broadcasted from since 2002. It is now the most watched TV show.

The Grammy Awards is the second most watched TV show after the Oscar awards. It was originally called the Gramophone Awards. The gramophone is an old fashioned record player with a large funnel shaped horn attached to it to amplify the sound. The Grammy was established in 1958 and first televised in 1971 by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awards the Grammy, shortened for gramophone, to individuals or groups in recognition of their achievement in the music industry. In essence, the Grammy is to music what the “Academy Awards” is to movies. Unlike the Oscars and the Golden Globe awards, the Grammy has awarded the trophies in three locations namely; Memphis, New York and Los Angeles. The Grammy is usual held in February where the honorees are presented with a golden gramophone shaped trophy for their achievement. During the show the presenter uses a stunt trophy and later after the show the actual trophy with the honoree’s named engraved is given to them.

The Golden Globe Awards is the third most watched show on TV. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFRA) originally presented the awards to recognize excellence in the American film and television. The awards are presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel (originally owned by Merv Griffin) in mid January a few weeks before The Oscars Awards. The Golden Globe Awards Show is generally a good predictor of the Oscars winners. Those who win in certain categories on this show will probably win in similar categories in the Oscars. The first Golden Globe award was presented in 1944 at the 20^th Century Fox studios. Then later changes were made to expand its list of honorees to include international film producers, actors, and directors and a few years after that change Cecil B. DeMille because the first international produced and director to receive a Golden Globe award in 1950. The official name of the golden globe is the Cecil B. Demille Award since Cecil B. DeMille was the first international recipient of the award.

The Emmy Awards is the Oscars version for television entertainment. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) presents it annually in late summer for recognition in television entertainment. The name “Emmy” is a derivative of the name, Immy, the nickname for those large electronic tubes used in TV cameras until 1980s.

The first Emmy was awarded on January 25, 1949 at the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles. The awards were originally presented to honor the shows produced and shown only in the Los Angeles area and in 1950 the ATAS expanded the Emmys to the national level. Today there are three main Emmy awards presented annually, namely, the Daytime Emmy for daytime TV shows, the Primetime Emmy for primetime TV shows and the International Emmy awards for TV shows produced and aired outside the United States. Furthermore, there are Emmy awards you may never had heard of such as the Sport Emmys, News and Documentary Emmys, Technology and Engineering Emmys and then there are 20 regional Emmys held in various locations in the United States. The award the honorees receive is a trophy of a winged golden girl holding an atom.

The S.A.G. Awards is a relatively newcomer to the TV awards shows. It was first aired on February 25, 1995 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. S.A.G. is the abbreviation for Screen Actor’s Guild. It is the nation’s largest union for working actors in Hollywood and was established in 1933. The union represents actors in basically all forms of recording media that they may earn their living by; such as the internet, motion pictures, commercials, video games and digital recordings.

The S.A.G. awards are only presented to the actors. Directors and other workers in the acting industry do not get this award. The union members give the awards to actors in recognition for outstanding performances usually around late January and the statuette given is a naked man holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy. The statuette is appropriately called “The Actor”.

The People's Choice Awards, started in 1975, is the first awards show of the season and aired on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) usually in the first week of January. The show was originally aired from the larger Shrine Auditorium and later moved to the Nokia Theater in 2000. The awards are presented to winners selected by votes from the public and are given in recognition of the people and the work of pop culture. The trophy received by the winners was recently re-designed for the 2010 show and is made in Ireland. It is a flame design hand-cut Waterford Crystal trophy and stands about 14 inches tall.

There is also a kid's version of this awards show called the "Kid's Choice Awards" on he Nickelodeon channel held in late March or early April around spring break from school. The show was originally called "The Big Ballot". Obviously, the winners are chosen by votes from the younger viewers. The award given is a Blimp shaped Kaleidoscope.

The American Music Awards Show (AMA) was started in 1973 by Dick Clark, also the originator of the "American Bandstand", a popular dance show aired during the 50s and 60s. The awards are given to winners based on their popularity in the music industry and covers all genres of music. The AMA is similar to the Grammys where the awards in the Grammys are awarded for quality while the awards in the AMA are awarded for popularity in the music industry. The show is generally held in November at the Nokia Theatre for music artists in the United States but the awards are also given to international music artists with popularity in the United States. The trophy awarded is a pyramid-shaped crystal.

The Country Music Awards(CMA) is similar to the American Music Awards. The show awards winners for recognition for their work in the western and country music genre. The CMA was originally started with two performers, Eddie Miller and Tommy Wiggins, with the Country and Western Music Academy in 1958. The first show was held in 1966 and was first aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network in 1972. The show was aired on the other two major networks, NBC and CBS, with influence from Dick Clark after he joined forces in 1979 to produce it.

The show is usually aired on CBS in early April from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and the trophy presented is a hand-blown, obelisk crystal made in Florence Italy. It is 15 inches tall and weighs a heavy 7.5 pounds.

The BET or Black Entertainment Television Awards was first established in 2001. This the youngest of all TV awards shows for entertainment. The awards are presented annually to recognize African Americans and other minorities for their work in music, acting, sports, and other areas of entertainment. The first show was aired from Paris Resort in Las Vegas and is currently aired from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. There is also the Soul Train Music Award show that also honors African Americans and other minorities in the music word held annually. The trophy is silver with a star design at the top.

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As you can see, there are quite a few awards shows aired annually on TV. This is just a handful of them and there are many more I could have listed here.