ESPN is leading the industry with 54 Sports Emmy Nominations for E60, NBA, College Football, NFL, SC Featured, and ESPN Deportes leading the noms for the network and its various arms.
What’s Happening:
- ESPN once again led the industry in Sports Emmy Award nominations, earning 54 for 2020, as announced Tuesday by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).
- It was the eighth straight year ESPN led all network groups and the 20th time in the last 21 years.
- The 42nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards will be live-streamed at Watch.TheEmmys.TV and The Emmy apps on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN’s leading nominations:
- ESPN’s enterprise journalism is always highly recognized, and E60 received seven nominations while SC Featured garnered four.
- ESPN Deportes earned a record eight nominations, including three for feature stories, two for studio shows plus commentators Ernesto Jerez, Mauricio Pedroza and Pilar Perez.
- The NBA on ESPN and ABC was honored with seven nominations, including commentators Mike Breen, Doris Burke, Rachel Nichols, Lisa Salters (also works NFL), Jeff Van Gundy and Malika Andrews in a new category, Emerging Talent.
- College football brought six nominations to ESPN, including two for College GameDay, and two for Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN’s most-honored individual with five Sports Emmys, including Event Analyst a year ago.
- Six NFL submissions were cited, including two for Sunday NFL Countdown and one for Post-Season NFL Countdown.
- The Undefeated, ESPN’s – multi-platform content initiative exploring the intersections of sports, race and culture – earned its first three nominations, including two for The Undefeated Presents: The Stop – Living, Driving and Dying While Black.
- In addition to those mentioned above, other individuals receiving nods are SportsCenter’s Scott Van Pelt (Host) and Jay Bilas (Studio Analyst) from college basketball. Among studio shows, three-time winner Pardon the Interruption was nominated, as was two-time winner SportsCenter. Also, SportsCenter Presents: 2020 – Heroes, History and Hope, a three-hour special that used the lens of sports to look back at the events of the past year, received two nominations.
- ESPN has won 212 Sports Emmy Awards in 33 years of eligibility. ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.
- ESPN’s 54 nominations come from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+, ABC, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS and ESPN.com. ESPN’s nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):
- Edited Coverage
- Hey Rookie: Welcome to the NFL – 2020 NFL Draft
- Edited Sports Special
- SC Presents: 2020 – Heroes, History and Hope
- The Undefeated Presents: The Stop – Living, Driving and Dying While Black
- Short Sports Documentary
- Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible (ESPN+, ESPN)
- E60: Twice the Fight: A Family’s Battle and Love of Football
- The Undefeated Presents: Why I Play
- Studios Show Weekly
- College GameDay
- Studios Show Daily
- SportsCenter
- Pardon the Interruption
- Studio Show Limited Run
- College GameDay: NFL Draft
- Post-Season NFL Countdown
- News Anthology
- E60
- SC Featured (ESPN2, ESPNEWS)
- Journalism
- E60: The Hero of Goodall Park
- E60: Imperfect: The Roy Holladay Story
- Short Feature
- E60: Teddy Bear Toss
- SC Featured: Tears
- SC Featured: Together (ESPN.com)
- Sunday NFL Countdown: The Big Mo Show
- Long Feature
- SC Featured: Fighting for Aniah
- Open/Tease
- E60: Imperfect: The Roy Halladay Story
- E60: Project 11: Alex Smith
- Digital Innovation
- SportsNation: Football Visualization Platform (ESPN, ESPN+, ESPN.com, Twitter)
- Studio Host
- Rachel Nichols
- Scott Van Pelt
- Play-By-Play
- Mike Breen (ABC)
- Studio Analyst
- Jay Bilas (ESPN, ESPN2)
- Kirk Herbstreit
- Event Analyst
- Doris Burke
- Kirk Herbstreit
- Jeff Van Gundy (ABC)
- Reporter
- Lisa Salters (ESPN,ABC)
- Emerging On-Air Talent
- Malika Andrews
- Tech Team Event
- College Football Playoff National Championship
- NBA Bubble (ESPN, TNT. NBA)
- Tech Team Studio
- NFL Draft (ESPN, ABC, NFL Network)
- College Gameday
- Camerawork Longform
- Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible (ESPN+, ESPN)
- Editing – Shortform
- Sunday NFL Countdown: The Big Mo Show
- The Undefeated Presents: The Stop – Living, Driving and Dying
- Writing Shortform
- PGA News Conference Show: Distance
- SC Presents: 2020 – Heroes, History and Hope: Enough
- Live Event Audio/Sound
- US Open Tennis
- Live Graphic Design
- College Football (ESPN, ABC)
- Post-Produced Graphic Design
- NFL (ESPN, ABC)
- Promotional Announcement
- The Last Dance: Predictions
- Studio Show in Spanish
- ESPN Futbol Center (ESPN Deportes)
- SportsCenter Deportes (ESPN Deportes)
- Feature Story in Spanish
- Greenland: Colombia (ESPN Deportes)
- SC Reportajes: 21 – Roberto Clemente (ESPN Deportes)
- SC Reportajes: El Paso Strong (ESPN Deportes)
- On-Air Personality in Spanish
- Ernesto Jerez (ESPN Deportes)
- Mauricio Pedroza (ESPN Deportes)
- Pilar Perez (ESPN Deportes)
- Edited Coverage