By Terry O’Reilly
NATAS Chairman
Terry O’Reilly
“Given our concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided that we will not be staging the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards in Pasadena this coming June. As there are so many unknowns right now with the flow of information changing on a daily, almost hourly, basis, it would simply be irresponsible to move forward with our annual celebration of excellence in daytime television at this time.”
This decision comes only weeks after announcements from the National Academy that it would postpone both its annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards (at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas) and its Sports Emmy® Awards (at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City) due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus.
NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp
“These were extremely difficult decisions to make, but at the end of the day the health and safety of our event attendees and staff must remain our paramount concern,” said Adam Sharp, President & CEO, NATAS. “We are closely monitoring public heath authorities’ guidance, seeking feedback from our awards communities, and evaluating the flexibility of our venue and production partners as we plan for the future in this unprecedented context.”
“While we realize this is disappointing, this does not mean we will not be celebrating the work selected for recognition in our Awards judging processes,” said Brent Stanton, Executive Director, Daytime Emmy® Awards. “Judging continues, and we look forward to announcing our incredibly talented nominees later this Spring. We are working on some interesting alternative ideas for how to best recognize the honorees later this year and will share more details in the weeks ahead.”