The 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Postponed Due to Coronavirus

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The 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards have been postponed by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) in response to the current Coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement released by NATAS Chairman, Terry O’Reilly said, “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 news comes shortly after the announcement from NATAS that it would postpone its 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 virus. The Daytime Emmy Awards honor excellence in daytime programming such as talk-shows, game shows and soaps.

“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 of NATAS. “We are closely monitoring public health authorities’ guidance, seeking feedback form our awards communities, and evaluating the flexibility of our venue and production partners as we plan for the future in this unprecedented context.”

Maurice Benard General Hospital Daytime Emmys

General Hospital‘s Maurice Benard at the 2019 Daytime Emmy Awards (Credit: Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images)

No new date for the ceremony has been released at this time, but fans will likely have to wait while to find out, as Brent Stanton, Executive Director of the Daytime Emmy Awards, promised that all other plans will resume, allowing your favorite shows to still be recognized, but perhaps not in a public setting.

“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,” he said. “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.”

Stay tuned for any more details as they arise.