New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to become an Emmy winner next week.
The politician will be awarded with the Founders Award at the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ annual awards show next week. The award honors individuals or organizations who “cross cultural boundaries to touch our common humanity” and has previously gone to former vice president Al Gore, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
Cuomo is being recognized by the International Academy for his daily TV briefings throughout the early days of coronavirus pandemic. In its announcement of the prize, the group referred to the briefings as a “masterful use of television to inform and calm people around the world.” Cuomo delivered 111 consecutive daily briefings about the virus starting on March 2, and the clips have collectively drawn a total of 59 million viewers.
The award will be presented to Cuomo at the International Emmy Awards show, which will livestream on the academy’s website on Nov. 23.
“The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” Bruce L. Paisner, the International Academy’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and New York tough became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”
The International Emmy awards, traditionally held in New York, were created to recognize “excellence in television produced outside of the United States, as well as U.S. Primetime programs produced in languages other than English.” Award categories include arts programming, current affairs, comedy, documentary, drama series, news, non-scripted, short-form, telenovela and TV movie/miniseries.