The Lifetime Achievement Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of the significant lifetime achievements of an individual in the American television industry. They are analogous to other awards based on cumulative achievement given out in the United States in the context of numerous career fields.
Notable instances involving the award include how performer Fred Rogers, an actor known for works decided to children such as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, stopped the regular chain of events at the 24th Daytime Emmy Awards in 1997 by successfully commanding the audience to give a moment of silence of commemorative thankfulness. Rogers additionally got a standing ovation before his comments, in which he told the crowd "may God be with you".[2]
Performer LeVar Burton became the first individual to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of work in children's programming in December 2022.
Entertainment figures who have received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy at the Daytime Emmys include Judy Sheindlin, the central figure of Judge Judy,[5] and John Clarke, a veteran film and television actor best known for starring on Days of Our Lives for thirty-seven years.[6]
Receiving the award in 1997, performer Fred Rogers of programs decided to children such as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood delivered one of the most notable moments in an Emmy acceptance speech during the 24th Daytime Emmy Awards, successfully commanding the audience to give a moment of silence of commemorative thankfulness. Rogers got a standing ovation before his comments, in which he told the crowd "may God be with you".[2]
In 2020, sports reporter Lesley Visser became the first woman to be awarded the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award, for her pioneering work in the generally male-dominated industry of sports television. "To be a pioneer at nearly every juncture... isn’t easy despite how Lesley Visser makes it look," Justine Gubar, the Executive Director of the Sports Emmy Awards, publicly remarked, while adding that Visser had become an "unparalleled role model and mentor to countless up-and-coming journalists".[7]
In 2022, actor LeVar Burton became the first person to be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on children's television. He will be presented with his award at the inaugural Children's and Family Emmy Awards on December 11, 2022. Burton's efforts to promote literacy in the United States has taken over two decades and involved multiple productions such as the television series Reading Rainbow; the performer has not only read books to young people but also explained current events to them and otherwise worked to educate them.[8]
