N. Hollywood, CA (September 2, 2021)—The Television Academy has announced a new Science and Technology Peer Group, prompted by recent production technologies including virtual production, cloud collaboration and immersive audio.
The Science and Technology Peer Group is an addition to the academy’s existing membership structure, effective Jan. 1, 2022, with election of peer group Governors to take place by December 2021. This new peer group provides a membership base for the engineers, scientists and technologists who create the systems and devices that enable or advance the storytelling and transmission capabilities of television. This may include advancements in software and equipment for visual and audio clarity, distribution methodology and approach, and/or engagement and participation of the viewer with the television program itself.
“Creating a peer group for the extraordinary professionals who turn imagination and inspiration into efficient, effective and simply dazzling television technologies is long overdue,” said Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy. “Our Engineering Emmy Awards have recognized their accomplishments for decades, but Science and Technology Peer Group members will now have a voice in our governance and an opportunity to play a dynamic role in the future of our Academy by helping set policy and collaborating with other Academy members eager to learn and embrace new technologies in storytelling.”
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“In 1949, at the first Emmy ceremony, the Academy recognized not only the arts but also the sciences of television with its special award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development,” commented Barry Zegel and Wendy Aylsworth, founders and co-chairs of the nascent membership group. “Recent production technologies—including virtual production, cloud collaboration and immersive audio—further this honored tradition and prompt the timely formation of this new peer group. We are excited to have this opportunity for the TV industry’s
technologists to contribute to the Academy at a higher level, and we look forward to launching more programs like this year’s well-received ‘Tech Tools & Tips’ seminars to benefit all of the Academy’s peer groups.”
For decades the Academy has awarded Emmys for engineering excellence to an individual, company, or organization for developments that are either so extensive an improvement on existing methods or so innovative in nature that they materially affect the production, recording, transmission or reception of television. Many of those awardees prompted the creation of not just awards recognition but representation in the organization.
The subgroup, which includes many Engineering Emmy Award winners and honorees of the past three decades, reached the prerequisite number of members necessary to establish their own peer group earlier this year. Subsequently, the Academy’s Membership Committee and its Board of Governors recently voted to approve moving the subgroup to full peer group status.
