The 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards honored the best in artistic and technical achievement in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2019, until May 31, 2020, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The awards were presented across five ceremonies; the first four were held on September 14 through 17, 2020, and were streamed online, while the fifth was held on September 19 and broadcast on FXX. They were presented in a virtual ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Nicole Byer hosted the event. A total of 106 Creative Arts Emmys were presented across 100 categories. The ceremonies preceded the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, held on September 20.
The Mandalorian and Watchmen led all programs with seven wins each, followed by Saturday Night Live with six and RuPaul's Drag Race with five. Watchmen was also the most-nominated program with 15 nominations; The Mandalorian followed with 14, while The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Saturday Night Live each received 12. Overall program awards went to 22 shows, including The Apollo, Bad Education, The Cave, Cheer, Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones, Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, The Last Dance, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, Live in Front of a Studio Audience, Queer Eye, Rick and Morty, Saturday Night Live, and We Are the Dream, among others. Netflix led all networks with 124 nominations; it also tied with HBO for the most wins, as each received 19 awards.
Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). Sections are based upon the categories listed in the 2019–2020 Emmy rules and procedures. Area awards and juried awards are denoted next to the category names as applicable. For simplicity, producers who received nominations for program awards have been omitted.
Programs {| class="wikitable" |+ |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Bad Education (HBO) American Son (Netflix) Dolly Parton's Heartstrings: These Old Bones (Netflix) El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend (Netflix) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Saturday Night Live (NBC) A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO) Drunk History (Comedy Central) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times" (ABC) 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards (NBC) The Oscars (ABC) Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show Starring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira (Fox) 73rd Annual Tony Awards (CBS) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (Netflix) Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (PBS) Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Netflix) Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill (Netflix) John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (Netflix) Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah (Netflix) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix) We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (HBO) Star Wars Resistance (Disney Channel) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Rick and Morty: "The Vat of Acid Episode" (Adult Swim) Big Mouth: "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!" (Netflix) Bob's Burgers: "Pig Trouble in Little Tina" (Fox) BoJack Horseman: "The View from Halfway Down" (Netflix) The Simpsons: "Thanksgiving of Horror" (Fox) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Queer Eye (Netflix) Antiques Roadshow (PBS) Love Is Blind (Netflix) Shark Tank (ABC) A Very Brady Renovation (HGTV) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Cheer (Netflix) Amy Schumer Learns to Cook: Lunch Break and Pasta Night (Food Network) Kevin Hart: Don't F**k This Up (Netflix) RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (VH1) We're Here (HBO) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | The Last Dance (ESPN) American Masters (PBS) Hillary (Hulu) McMillion$ (HBO) Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | The Apollo (HBO) Beastie Boys Story (Apple TV+) Becoming (Netflix) The Great Hack (Netflix) Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time (Epix) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (A&E) Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Netflix) Ugly Delicious (Netflix) Vice (Showtime) The World According to Jeff Goldblum (Disney+) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | The Cave (National Geographic) Chasing the Moon (American Experience) (PBS) Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (HBO) One Child Nation (Prime Video) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Better Call Saul Employee Training: Legal Ethics with Kim Wexler (AMC.com) The Good Place Presents: The Selection (NBC) Most Dangerous Game (Quibi) Reno 911! (Quibi) Star Trek: Short Treks (CBS All Access) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Carpool Karaoke: The Series (Apple TV) Beeing at Home with Samantha Bee (TBS) Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: The Movie, Sorta Uncut Interviews (Netflix) Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogues (YouTube/JimmyKimmelLive) The Randy Rainbow Show (YouTube) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | National Geographic Presents: Creating Cosmos: Possible Worlds (National Geographic) Between The Scenes – The Daily Show (Comedy Central) Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Presents: Pandemic Video Diaries (TBS) Pose: Identity, Family, Community (FX) RuPaul's Drag Race Out Of The Closet (VH1) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love? (Disney+) Robot Chicken: "Santa's Dead (Spoiler Alert) Holiday Murder Thing Special" (Adult Swim) Steven Universe Future: "Fragments" (Cartoon Network) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | The Messy Truth VR Experience (Oculus) Rebuilding Notre Dame (Oculus) When We Stayed Home (Oculus) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Big Mouth Guide to Life (Netflix) Doctor Who: The Runaway (BBC America) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Mr. Robot: Season_4.0 ARG (USA Network) Stranger Things: Scoops Ahoy: Operation Scoop Snoop (Netflix) Westworld: Free Will is Not Free Interactive Experience (HBO) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | Create Together (YouTube) The Line (Oculus)|}
Performing + Eddie Murphy – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Eddie Murphy" as host (NBC) Adam Driver – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Adam Driver" as host (NBC) Luke Kirby – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: "It's Comedy or Cabbage" as Lenny Bruce (Prime Video) Dev Patel – Modern Love: "When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist" as Joshua (Prime Video) Brad Pitt – Saturday Night Live: "SNL at Home #2" as Dr. Anthony Fauci (NBC) Fred Willard – Modern Family: "Legacy" as Frank Dunphy (ABC) Maya Rudolph – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Eddie Murphy" as Senator Kamala Harris (NBC) Angela Bassett – A Black Lady Sketch Show: "Angela Bassett Is the Baddest Bitch" as Mo (HBO) Bette Midler – The Politician: "Vienna" as Hadassah Gold (Netflix) Maya Rudolph – The Good Place: "You've Changed, Man" as the Judge (NBC) Wanda Sykes – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: "A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo..." as Moms Mabley (Prime Video) Phoebe Waller-Bridge – Saturday Night Live: "Host: Phoebe Waller-Bridge" as host (NBC) Ron Cephas Jones – This Is Us: "After the Fire" as William Hill (NBC) Jason Bateman – The Outsider: "Fish in a Barrel" as Terry Maitland (HBO) James Cromwell – Succession: "Dundee" as Ewan Roy (HBO) Giancarlo Esposito – The Mandalorian: "Chapter 8: Redemption" as Moff Gideon (Disney+) Andrew Scott – Black Mirror: "Smithereens" as Chris Gillhaney (Netflix) Martin Short – The Morning Show: "Chaos Is the New Cocaine" as Dick Lundy (Apple TV+) Cherry Jones – Succession: "Tern Haven" as Nan Pierce (HBO) Alexis Bledel – The Handmaid's Tale: "God Bless the Child" as Emily (Hulu) Laverne Cox – Orange Is the New Black: "God Bless America" as Sophia Burset (Netflix) Phylicia Rashad – This Is Us: "Flip a Coin" as Carol Clarke (NBC) Cicely Tyson – How to Get Away with Murder: "Stay" as Ophelia Harkness (ABC) Harriet Walter – Succession: "Return" as Lady Caroline Collingwood (HBO) Laurence Fishburne – #FreeRayshawn as Lt. Steven Poincy (Quibi) Mamoudou Athie – Oh Jerome, No (Cake) as Jerome (FX) Corey Hawkins – Survive as Paul (Quibi) Stephan James – #FreeRayshawn as Rayshawn (Quibi) Christoph Waltz – Most Dangerous Game as Miles Sellers (Quibi) Jasmine Cephas Jones – #FreeRayshawn as Tyisha (Quibi) Anna Kendrick – Dummy as Cody (Quibi) Kerri Kenney-Silver – Reno 911! as Deputy Trudy Wiegel (Quibi) Kaitlin Olson – Flipped as Cricket Melfi (Quibi) Rain Valdez – Razor Tongue as Belle Jonas (YouTube) Maya Rudolph – Big Mouth: "How to Have an Orgasm" as Connie the Hormone Monstress (Netflix) Hank Azaria – The Simpsons: "Frinkcoin" as Professor Frink, Moe, Chief Wiggum, Carl, Cletus, Kirk, and Sea Captain (Fox) Nancy Cartwright – The Simpsons: "Better Off Ned" as Bart Simpson, Nelson, Ralph, and Todd (Fox) Leslie Odom Jr. – Central Park: "Episode One" as Owen (Apple TV+) Wanda Sykes – Crank Yankers: "Bobby Brown, Wanda Sykes & Kathy Griffin" as Gladys (Comedy Central) Taika Waititi – The Mandalorian: "Chapter 8: Redemption" as IG-11 (Disney+) David Attenborough – Seven Worlds, One Planet: "Antarctica" (BBC America) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution (History) Angela Bassett – The Imagineering Story: "The Happiest Place on Earth" (Disney+) Chiwetel Ejiofor – The Elephant Queen (Apple TV+) Lupita Nyong'o – Serengeti: "Destiny" (Discovery Channel) RuPaul – RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1) Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness – Queer Eye (Netflix) Nicole Byer – Nailed It! (Netflix) Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, and Kevin O'Leary – Shark Tank (ABC) Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio – Top Chef (Bravo) Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman – Making It (NBC)
Animation {| class="wikitable" |+ |- | style="vertical-align:top;" | Archer: "Road Trip" – Jill Dykxhoorn (FX) Cosmos: Possible Worlds: "Vavilov" – Dan MacKenzie (National Geographic) Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: "A Cold Death" – Stephen DeStefano (Adult Swim) Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: "Spear and Fang" – Genndy Tartakovsky (Adult Swim) Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: "Spear and Fang" – Scott Wills (Adult Swim)|}
Art Direction {| class="wikitable" |+ |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | The Handmaid's Tale: "Household" – Elisabeth Williams, Martha Sparrow, and Robert Hepburn (Hulu) Big Little Lies: "What Have They Done?" / "The Bad Mother" / "I Want To Know" – John Paino, Austin Gorg, and Amy Wells (HBO) Killing Eve: "Are You from Pinner?" – Laurence Dorman, Beckie Harvey, and Casey Williams (BBC America) The Morning Show: "In the Dark Night of the Soul It's Always 3:30 in the Morning" – John Paino, James F. Truesdale, and Amy Wells (Apple TV+) Ozark: "Wartime" – David Bomba, Sean Ryan Jennings, and Kim Leoleis (Netflix) Succession: "This Is Not for Tears" – Stephen H. Carter, Carmen Cardenas, George DeTitta, and Ana Buljan (HBO) | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" | The Crown: "Aberfan" – Martin Childs, Mark Raggett, and Alison Harvey (Netflix) Hollywood – Matthew Flood Ferguson, Mark Robert Taylor, and Melissa Licht (Netflix) The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: "It's Comedy or Cabbage" / "A Jewish Girl Walks Into the Apollo..." – Bill Groom, Neil Prince, and Ellen Christiansen (Prime Video) Watchmen: "An Almost Religious Awe" – Kristian Milsted, Jay Pelissier, and Edward McLoughlin (HBO) Westworld: "Parce Domine" – Howard Cummings, Jon Carlos, and Julie Ochipinti (HBO) |- | style="vertical-align:top;" width="50%" |