Starting next year, the Golden Globes highest honor for achievement in television will have Carol Burnetts name on it. On Tuesday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced that the TV icon will have an award named after her—the Carol Burnett Award—and will also be its first recipient. The statuette will serve as a sort of lifetime-achievement award, honoring TV work specifically. Naming the prize after Burnett only seems fair: the five-time Globe winner hosted The Carol Burnett Show for 11 years, a variety series that, with its 25 Emmy wins, is among the most honored shows in TV history.
In a press release, the H.F.P.A. said the new award is meant to celebrate televisions new golden age, and will be an equivalent to its Cecil B. DeMille film award, which went to Oprah Winfrey in January. The Carol Burnett Award, the release states, “will be presented annually to an honoree who has made outstanding contributions to television on or off the screen. Future recipients will be chosen based on their body of work and the lasting impact that their television career achievements have had on both the industry and audiences.”
Although 2019 is still weeks away, next years Globes are already off to a better start than their chief awards-season rival, the Oscars. The H.F.P.A. has named Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh as co-hosts, while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pick, Kevin Hart, had to step down mere days after he was announced after initially refusing to apologize for his old, homophobic tweets. The situation is fraught enough that we may even be in for a host-less Oscar ceremony. Either way, we can all agree that the Carol Burnett Award is guaranteed to be better-received than that proposed popular-film Oscar.
One person excited for the Carol Burnett Award? H.F.P.A. president Meher Tatna, who praised Burnett as a comedy trailblazer in a statement: “She was the first woman to host a variety sketch show, The Carol Burnett Show. She was also the first woman to win both the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and Kennedy Center Honors. And now we add another first to her running list: the first recipient—and namesake—of the new Golden Globe top honor for achievement in television, the Carol Burnett Award. We are profoundly grateful for her contributions to the entertainment industry and honored to celebrate her legacy forever at the Golden Globes.”
Next years Golden Globes ceremony airs on January 6.
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Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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