The Trustees Award

The Trustees Awards is the highest honor that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences bestows on an individual. Established in 1957, it was presented for the first time as part of the Tenth Annual Awards telecast on April 15, 1958

The Trustees Award is a special award. It was created to remove the confinement of category–defined awards by allowing the Trustees to acknowledge and to honor unusual or enduring achievements or contributions to the arts and sciences of television. There is no limit to the number of Trustees Awards which may be given in any year, nor is there any requirement that the Trustees make such a presentation each year. The Trustees Award traditionally includes a citation which gives the reason for the presentation of this special honor

Past Trustees Award Honorees

Randy Falco

Randy Falco – español

Dan Rather

Andrew Young

Jerry Lewis

Judy McGrath

David Zaslav

Dick Ebersol

Robert A. Iger

Honoree History

2008 → Judy McGrath - Chairman & CEO, MTV Networks

2007 → David Zaslav - President & CEO, Discovery Communications

2006 → Dick Ebersol - Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics

2005 → Robert A. Iger - CEO, The Walt Disney Corporation

2004 → Richard D. Parsons - Chairman & CEO, Time Warner Inc.

2003 → Ralph Roberts - Founder, Comcast

1999 → Gerald M. Levin - Chairman & CEO, Time Warner Inc.

1998 → Bob Wright - President & CEO, NBC

1997 → Sumner Redstone - Viacom

1995 → James C. Dowdle - President, The Tribune Corporation

1992 → Frank A. Bennack, Jr. - President & CEO, The Hearst Corporation

1991 → Robert J. Wussler - President, CBS & COMSAT; Senior Vice President, TBS

1990 → R.E. “Ted” Turner - CNN

1989 → Lawrence P. Fraiberg

1987-1988 → Peggy Charren - Children’s Television

1985-1986 → Dr. William F. Baker

1984-1985 → Roone Arledge & Julius Barnathan - ABC for the Olympics

1983-1984 → Vladimir Zworykin

1982-1983 → Bob Short

1981-1982 → Walter Cronkite

1980-1981 → Agnes Nixon

1979-1980 → Leonard H. Goldenson

1978-1979 → William S. Paley

1974-1975 → Elmer W. Lower, Dr. Peter Goldmark

1971-1972 → Dr. Frank Stanton, William Lawrence

1970-1971 → Ed Sullivan

1969-1970 → Elmer Lower - ABC, Richard Salant - CBS, Reuven Frank - NBC

1968-1969 → William R. McAndrew - Apollo VII, VIII, IX, X Space Missions

1967-1968 → Donald H. McGannon

1966-1967 → Sylvester L. “Pat” Weaver, Jr.

1965-1966 → Edward R. Murrow, Xerox Corporation

1962-1963 → American Telephone & Telegraph Co., Dick Powell

1961-1962 → CBS News for “A Tour of the White House”
                           Jacqueline Kennedy
                           Heads of news departments at ABC, CBS and NBC
                           Brigadier General David Sarnoff

1960-1961 → National Educational Television, Joyce C. Hall - President, Hallmark Cards

1959-1960 → Dr. Frank Stanton

1958-1959 → Bob Hope

1957-1958 → Jack Benny