The Daytime Emmys are splitting off its children’s and family categories and giving them their own awards show, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.
The Children’s and Family Emmy Awards will premiere in 2022 as a standalone awards show. It’s the first time the Emmys have expanded the awards race since the Sports Emmy Awards and the News & Documentary Emmy Awards launched in 1979.
It’s a sign that the Academy is recognizing the drastically changing shape of the programming in those fields. NATAS said that within the last two years, it witnessed a 23% increase in shows in the children’s and family genres, and the Individual Achievement in Animation category had the highest number of entries across any Emmys race with nearly 300 submissions last year alone.
In recent years, NATAS added seven new awards categories, particularly to recognize growth in the preschool sector, and those categories will be among the ones voted on in the standalone awards show. Winners will continue to be voted upon by both NATAS and Television Academy members in all Children’s and Family categories.
Last year, the Television Academy and NATAS agreed to consolidate all children’s categories under the purveiw of NATAS.
Categories, eligibility rules and the call for entries for the Children’s & Family Emmys will be announced separately in 2022.
“NATAS has always been a leader in recognizing and celebrating excellence in our industry, and nothing is excelling and expanding more dramatically than the children’s and family community. Recent years have seen explosive growth in the quantity and quality of children’s and family programming, and now is the perfect time to acknowledge and honor this impactful content with a dedicated competition and celebration,” Adam Sharp, president and CEO of NATAS, said in a statement.
NATAS membership consists of more than 18,000 broadcast and media professionals represented in 19 regional chapters across the United States.