Last year, against all odds, the Television Academy’s Emmy Awards proceeded mostly as scheduled; while COVID-19 caused the 2021 Oscars to adjust their timeline dramatically and the 2020 Tonys to release nominations with still no ceremony in sight, television and those who reward it continued apace. Considering the sheer amount of small-screen content there exists to consider—pandemic or no—it’s a good thing TV contenders will get their shot at gold again in 2021.
There’s no word yet on whether the ceremonies for this year’s British Academy Television Awards (hosted by Richard Ayoade) and Primetime Emmy Awards (a host announcement is forthcoming) will repeat the virtually presented format of last year. But in the meantime, we do know their official schedules leading up to both events. Time to mark your calendar!
The BAFTA TV Awards, which this year released nominations on April 28, consider programming aired in the previous calendar year, with juries viewing entries throughout spring. However, recent changes to voting procedures designed to help BAFTA voters recognize a wider diversity of talent mean several firsts for their 2021 awards: performance categories have been upped from four to six nominees and the newly named Emerging Talent distinction is divided into fiction and factual categories, for example. Hannah Wyatt, Chair of BAFTA’s Television Committee, said in a statement, “We saw significant progress in the diversity of our 2020 Television Awards and these additional changes are designed to continue that trajectory, ensuring BAFTA champions an industry taking proactive steps to level the playing field.”
The Emmy eligibility period, June 1–May 31, remains the same as well. The Television Academy’s nominating largely follows its usual process, with tweaks made to a handful of categories for 2021: limited series races have been renamed to explicitly include anthology series, short form comedy/drama series and short form variety series have merged into one, and individual stunt performers will get their own category in addition to stunt coordinators. In addition, per a Television Academy statement, “To clarify the distinction between theatrical motion pictures and television movies during the ongoing pandemic, any non-documentary film placed on the AMPAS viewing platform for Oscar consideration will be deemed a theatrical motion picture and thus ineligible for the Emmy competition.”
Everything You’d Ever Need to Know About the Emmy Awards Included below are the important dates and voting windows for the TV awards season ahead. Stay tuned with Backstage’s awards coverage for more updates.
May 3: 14th Television Academy Honors announced
May 24: British Academy Television Craft Awards ceremony
June 6: Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards, airing on BBC One
June 17: Nominations-round Emmy voting begins
June 28: Nominations-round Emmy voting ends
July 13: Creative Arts and Primetime Emmy Award nominations announced
Aug. 19: Final-round Emmy voting begins
Aug. 30: Final-round Emmy voting ends
TBD: Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies
Sept. 20: 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, airing on CBS
This calendar has been updated as of May 14, 2021. Please check back for updates.
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