The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry". Headquartered in New York City, NATAS membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country. It was also known as the National Television Academy until 2007. NATAS distributes several groups of Emmy Awards, including those for daytime, sports, and news and documentary programming.

Organization

One of its past presidents, Don DeFore, was instrumental in arranging for the Emmy Awards to be broadcast on national TV for the first time on March 7, 1955. Other past presidents include Diana Muldaur, John Cannon, Peter Price, Frank Radice and Bob Mauro.

Awards

National awards

NATAS distributes several US national level groups of Emmy Awards, including:

Regional awards

19 Regional NATAS chapters organize award ceremonies of their own, awarding Emmy statues similar to those given out at the national ceremonies. They also administer their own regional scholarship and student productions award programs. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences gives out only the Los Angeles, CA Regional Chapter Awards.

Defunct

NATAS also supervised the Primetime Emmy Awards until a split between the East and West memberships in the 1970s led to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences leaving NATAS. ATAS supervises the Primetime and Los Angeles area Emmys, while NATAS is in charge of the other Emmy honors. In 2007, the organization spawned a peer organization dedicated to new media, called the National Academy of Media Arts & Sciences (NAMAS).

Magazine

NATAS published a magazine, Television Quarterly, which started in 1962.

Controversy

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda was nominated in July 2024 for the 45th News and Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form for "It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive." Around 150 people from anti-Palestinian group "Creative Community for Peace" signed a call for the nomination to be rescinded. Adam Sharp, NATAS president and chief executive, responded by saying that that experienced journalists had made the nomination decision and that the academy had not found any evidence that Owda was affiliated with the PFLP.