International Emmy Founders Award

The International Emmy Founders Award (or Founders Award) is given by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS) to individuals whose creative accomplishments have contributed in some way to the quality of global television production.^[1] The awards ceremony has taken place in New York City since 1980.^[2]

International Emmy Founders Award
Country	United States
Presented by	International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
First award	1980
Website	www.iemmys.tv

Winners

Year	Winner	Country	Note
1980	Jim Henson	United States	Creator of The Muppets
1981	Shaun Sutton	United Kingdom	Head of BBC-TV's Drama Group
	Roone Arledge	United States	Executive producer, ABC's Wide World of Sports
1982	Michael Landon	United States	Executive producer, director, writer and performer
1983	Herbert Brodkin	United States	Producer, co-founder of Titus Productions
1984	David L. Wolper	United States	Producer and television executive
1985	David Attenborough	United Kingdom	Creator, writer, producer and TV host
1986	Donald L. Taffner	United Kingdom	President, D.L. Taffner Ltd
1987	Jacques-Yves Cousteau[3]	France	President, Cousteau Society
1988	Goar Mestre[4]	Argentina	Latin American Broadcasting Pioneer
1989	Paul Fox	United Kingdom	Managing director, BBC Television
1990	Joan Ganz Cooney	United States	American television producer
1991	Adrian Cowell[5]	United Kingdom	Film Maker, ITV Central
1992	Bill Cosby[6]	United States	(Comedian, actor and producer
1993	Richard Dunn[7]	United Kingdom	CEO, Thames Television
1994	Film on Four: Channel 4	United Kingdom	British public-service television broadcaster
1995	Don Hewitt[8]	United States	Executive producer, CBS' 60 Minutes
1996	Reg Grundy[9]	Australia	Founder, Grundy Productions
1997	Jac Venza[10]	United States	Director of Cultural & Arts Programs, WNET
1998	Robert Halmi Sr.[11]	Hungary	Chairman, RHI Entertainment
1999	Hisashi Hieda[12]	Japan	President, Fuji Television
2000	John Hendricks[13]	United States	Founder and CEO, Discovery Communications
2001	Pierre Lescure[14]	France	Chairman and CEO of Canal+ Group
2002	Sir Howard Stringer[15]	United Kingdom	Chairman and CEO, Sony Corporation of America
2003	HBO[16]	United States	American premium cable and satellite television network
2004	MTV International[17]	United States	Channel subsidiary of MTV Networks
2005	Oprah Winfrey[18]	United States	Chairman, Harpo Inc.
2006	Steven Spielberg[19]	United States	American film director
2007	Al Gore[20]	United States	Chairman, Current TV
2008	Dick Wolf[21]	United States	Creator and executive producer, Law & Order
2009	David Frost[22]	United Kingdom	Journalist and producer
2010	Simon Cowell[23]	United Kingdom	Founder, SYCO
2011	Nigel Lythgoe[24]	United Kingdom	Executive producer, So You Think You Can Dance; American Idol
2012	Ryan Murphy[25]	United States	Showrunner
	Norman Lear[26]	United States	40th Anniversary Special Founders Award
	Alan Alda	United States	40th Anniversary Special Founders Award
2013	J. J. Abrams[27]	United States	Film director
2014	Matthew Weiner[28]	United States	Screenwriter, Creator of the series Mad Men
2015	Julian Fellowes[29]	United Kingdom	Screenwriter, Creator of the series Downton Abbey
2016	Shonda Rhimes	United States	Television producer, writer and author
2017	None[a]	None	None
2018	Greg Berlanti[31]	United States	American film and television writer and producer
2019	David Benioff and D. B. Weiss	United States	Game of Thrones showrunners
2020	Andrew Cuomo (rescinded)[32][33]	United States	56th Governor of New York
2021	None	None	None
2022	Ava DuVernay[34]	United States	Filmmaker
2023	Jesse Armstrong	United Kingdom	Screenwriter and producer
2024	David E. Kelley	United States	Television writer, producer

1. Actor and producer Kevin Spacey was announced as the recipient, but this was rescinded following allegations of sexual misconduct prior to being awarded.^[30]

Rescinded awards

Kevin Spacey (2017)

Actor and producer Kevin Spacey was chosen to be the recipient of the award for 2017, but the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences later tweeted a reversal of their decision,^[35] following accusations of sexual misconduct by Spacey in 1986 towards a then-14-year-old Anthony Rapp.^[30]

Andrew Cuomo (2020)

Andrew Cuomo, who was the Governor of New York at the time, received the award during the 2020 ceremony for his daily briefings during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which the International Academy said "effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure".^[36][32] However, shortly after Cuomo's resignation on August 24, 2021, following a report by the state attorney general into allegations of sexual harassment, the academy rescinded his award.^[33]