The National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences is spreading out next year’s Daytime Emmy Awards over three days — mirroring what its west-coast counterpart already does with the Primetime Emmys.
NATAS, the East Coast-based academy handling most non-Primetime Emmys, announced Tuesday that the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be divided into three awards shows on Friday, June 12, 2020, Saturday, June 13th, 2020 and Sunday, June 14th, 2020.
“We are thrilled to add a third night of celebrating the diversity and talents of our daytime community,” said NATAS President/CEO Adam Sharp. “We have seen how the Television Academy’s expansion of the Primetime Creative Arts ceremonies has made room for more honorees to have their well-earned moment in the sun, and we hope to replicate their success.”
All three shows will be held in Pasadena, Calif. Categories to be presented at each program to be determined and announced at a future date. In recent years, none of the Daytime Emmys ceremonies have been telecast; it’s also unclear if there are any plans to add a TV partner this year.
The decision to spread the creative arts portion of the Daytime Emmy Awards is the latest Daytime Emmys change made by NATAS president and CEO Adam Sharp, who first joined the org last year and immediately faced a threatened boycott by the four major network soap operas after a controversy erupted over its voting system. Sharp commissioned an independent investigation into complains over the Daytime Emmys voting process, and the boycott didn’t happen.
This year, the org released a “transparency report” for the 46th Daytime Emmys, revealing five separate judging irregularities and four nomination challenges — and how they handled each dispute.
The expansion into three ceremonies also comes after NATAS named a new executive to oversee production of all of NATAS’ key awards shows, including the Daytime Emmys. Earlier this year, Steve Ulrich was tapped as senior vice president, production and events, a newly-created position in which he handles the planning and production of the Daytime, Sports, News & Documentary, and Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards ceremonies, plus the National Student Production Awards and other events.