The Governors Award was established in 1978 by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award, one of the highest honors presented by the Board, when warranted, recognize an individual, company, or organization that has made a profound, transformational, and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television by presenting them with the Governors Award.
Recipients 1978 – William S. Paley 1979 – Walter Cronkite 1980 – Johnny Carson 1981 – Elton Rule 1982 – Hallmark Cards, Inc. 1983 – Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver 1984 – Bob Hope 1985 – Alistair Cooke 1986 – Red Skelton 1987 – Grant Tinker 1988 – William Hanna & Joseph Barbera 1989 – Lucille Ball 1990 – Leonard Goldenson 1991 – Masterpiece Theatre 1992 – Ted Turner 1993 – No award given 1994 – No award given 1995 – PBS 1996 – USA's Erase the Hate Campaign / Turner's Native American Initiative 1997 – ABC's March Against Drugs Campaign / Comic Relief USA / Jac Venza 1998 – National Geographic Channel / Great Books Literacy Project 1999 – MTV's "Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence" / Save Our History 2000 – A&E's The Biography Project for Schools / The Teen Files / VH1 Save the Music Foundation 2001 – CNN / Showtime 2002 – ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC for America: A Tribute to Heroes 2003 – Lifetime Network's "Stop the Violence Against Women" initiative 2004 – Viacom Inc. (for its pro bono publico outreaches) 2005 – Jerry Lewis 2006 – MTVu Campaign for Darfur 2007 – Idol Gives Back / The Addiction Project 2008 – Planet Earth 2009 – Sheila Nevins and her HBO documentary unit 2010 – Norman Brokaw / Ad Council 2011 – John Walsh 2012 – It Gets Better Project (co-founders Dan Savage and Terry Miller) 2013 – June Foray 2014 – Marion Dougherty 2015 – A+E Networks 2016 – American Idol 2017 – ITVS 2018 – Star Trek 2019 – No award given 2020 – Tyler Perry and The Perry Foundation 2021 – Debbie Allen 2022 – Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media 2023 – GLAAD 2024 – Greg Berlanti 2025 – Corporation for Public Broadcasting 2026 – No award given
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