Golden Globe Award

For the yacht race, see Sunday Times Golden Globe Race

The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programmes, given out each year during a formal dinner. Run since 1944 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the awards are a major part of the film industry's "awards season" which culminates each year with the Oscars. This is particularly true since 1996, when the HFPA signed a new television broadcast contract with NBC (prior to that, they were aired on TBS, but before the existence of TBS, one of the "big three" commercial networks, i.e. CBS, NBC, or ABC, always broadcast the show). The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars and Grammys, and movie studios actively solicit support from HFPA members and mention nominations and awards in their advertisements.

The Golden Globes are awarded early in the year, based on votes from (as of 2005) 86 mostly part-time journalists living in Hollywood and affiliated with media outside of the United States.

Unlike the Academy Awards, for which the eligibility period begins January 1, the eligibility period for the Golden Globe Awards begins October 1.

History

The first Golden Globes Awards were held in 1944 at the 20th Century Fox studios. It has since been held annually, at various locations throughout the next decade, notably the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hollywood Knickerbocker Club and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. It was during the early stages of the 1950s that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish a special award that recognizes outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. To give importance to the award and recognize its subject as an international figure in the entertainment industry the award was presented to Cecil B. DeMille in 1952, the official name of the award thus became the Cecil B. DeMille Award. The award was then first presented to Walt Disney the following year.

The awards at the ceremony had typically been presented by journalists who were part of the association. However at the 1958 Golden Globes which was the first year of local telecast, in an impromptu action, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. collectively known as the Rat Pack took flight to the stage, allegedly taking over the presenting with whiskey and cigarettes on hand. The action was met with great delight of the audience. The next year the association asked them to present the awards.

In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year; there were two Miss Golden Globes, one for film and television respectively, Eva Six and Donna Douglas. In 1964, national telecast was distributed through a special segment on The Andy Williams Show.

Indicating the impact that animated films have had on the industry, in early 2006, the Hollywood Foreign Press announced that a Golden Globe would be awarded for the Best Animated Feature starting in 2007 at the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Award categories

Motion picture awards: Exclusively awarded until 1956

Television awards: First Awarded in 1956

Retired awards:

Best Documentary Film · Last awarded in 1977 at the 30th Annual Golden Globe Awards

Membership in the HFPA

Members are required to be paid for four published works each year or are considered "inactive" that year. As of 2004, some are in their nineties, several others in their eighties.

Criticism

Duncan Campbell, a correspondent for The Guardian: "I think it's like one of Groucho Marx's clubs. If they were willing to have me in it, I wouldn't want to join. I've always considered that joining HFPA comes at a dreadful price — your credibility."Duncan Campbell, a correspondent for The Guardian, cites a well-known comment from Groucho Marx

In 1996, a former HFPA president founded the International Press Academy as a more open, broader-based, "less easily manipulated" operation than the HFPA.

Gifts are now limited to bottles of champagne, flowers and movie trinkets. A recent HFPA president, Dagmar Dunlevy, was a bona fide journalist, rather than an occasional freelancer. With the income from the NBC broadcasting deal, the association has been making substantial donations to film-oriented charities.

L.A. Weekly media critic John Powers noted in the documentary Hollywood's Dirty Little Secret: "Even though the Golden Globe people are by and large idiots, they often make better choices than the Oscars."

References

External links

Home of the HFPA
2003 Interview with Anita Weber, long-time HFPA member
The truth behind the Golden Globes, an AP 2003 story about a documentary which aired on the Trio channel
Review of 2003 documentary on the Golden Globes from the Hollywood Reporter
Interview with Golden Globe nominee Heath Ledger

Golden Globe Awards | Film awards | Television awards