Emmy Awards are presented each year for excellence in television performance and production the previous year in the United States and internationally. Awards are made in many categories, including acting, writing, and editing. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences makes awards for nighttime television. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awards Emmys for daytime television, sports, news, and documentary programming. The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences administers awards for excellence in programming outside the United States. Winners receive a statuette called an Emmy.
Only members of each academy are eligible to vote for the awards. In specialized areas, members can vote only for candidates in their field. For example, writers vote only for writers and directors only for directors. The term Emmy comes from immy, the nickname for an image orthicon camera tube used in television image transmission. The first Emmys were awarded for programs telecast in 1948.
