The Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards, or Engineering Emmys, are one of two sets of Emmy Awards that are presented for outstanding achievement in engineering development in the television industry. The Primetime Engineering Emmys are presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), while the separate Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards are given by its sister organization, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).
The Primetime Engineering Emmy is presented to an individual, company or organization for engineering developments so significant an improvement on existing methods or so innovative in nature that they materially affect the transmission, recording or reception of television. The award is determined by a jury of highly qualified, experienced engineers in the television industry. In addition, since 2003 the ATAS also bestows in most years the Philo T. Farnsworth Award, which is a Primetime Engineering Emmy Award given to honor companies and organizations that have significantly affected the state of television and broadcast engineering over a long period of time, and the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which has been given in most years since 1991 to one or more individuals whose contributions over time have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering.
The Primetime Emmy Awards have been given since 1949 to recognize outstanding achievements in primetime television for performance, for the Creative Arts, and for Engineering. The Primetime Engineering Emmys have separately been given annually since 1978 (the year that ATAS and the NATAS agreed to split ties), although Special Emmys for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development were occasionally bestowed in prior years. The awards which have been given include the Engineering Emmys, which are accorded the Emmy Statuette, and two other levels of recognition, the Engineering Plaque, and the Engineering Citation
Awards
1978 Engineering Emmy Award: Petro Vlahos for the ULTIMATTE Video-Matting Device Engineering Citation: To the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
1979 Engineering Emmy Award: Ampex Corporation for the Automatic Scan Tracking System for Helical Video Tape Equipment Engineering Citation: Magicam, Inc. for the Development of Real Time Tracking of Independent Scenes
1980 Engineering Emmy Award: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for Closed Captioning for the Deaf System Engineering Emmy Citation: David Bargan for the '409' and 'TRACE' Computer Programs used for Off-line Videotape Editing Engineering Emmy Citation: Vital Industries for its Pioneering Development of Digital Video Manipulation Technology Engineering Emmy Citation: Convergence Corporation for the ECS-100 Video Tape Editing Systems
1981 Engineering Emmy Award: Rank Cintel for the Mark III Flying Spot Telecine
1982 Engineering Emmy Award: Hal Collins for Contributions to the Art and Development of Videotape Editing (posthumous) Engineering Emmy Award: Dubner Computer Systems, Inc., and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) for the Dubner CBG-2 Electronic Character and Background Generator Engineering Citation: Chapman Studio Equipment for the Development of Crane Systems
1983 Engineering Emmy Award: Eastman Kodak for the Development of High Speed Color Film 5294/7294 Color Negative Film Engineering Citation: Ikegami Electronics for the Development of the EC-35 (a camera used for electronic cinematography) Engineering Citation: Ampex Corporation for Digital Effects Displaying Capabilities with Improved Picture Quality
1984 Engineering Emmy Award: None given Engineering Citation: Corporate Communications Consultants Inc. for the 60XL Color Correction by Armand Belmares Sarabia
1985 Engineering Emmy Award: Auricle Control Systems (ACS) for the Auricle Time Processor
1986 Engineering Emmy Award: Nagra, Inc., for the Nagra Recorder Engineering Emmy Award: CBS, Sony and Cinedco for Design and Implementation of Electronic Editing Systems for Film Programs
1987 Engineering Emmy Award: Spectra Image, Inc. for D220 Dual Headed Video Disc Player
1988 Engineering Emmy Award: Optical Disc Corporation for the Recordable Laser Videodisc System Engineering Emmy Award: Sony for the DVR-1000 Component Digital VTR
1989 Engineering Emmy Award: Pacific Video Inc. for the Electronic Laboratory Engineering Emmy Award: Cinema Products Corporation for the Steadicam Engineering Plaque: Composite Image Systems for the Pin Registered Transfer Process Engineering Plaque: Istec, Inc. for the WESCAM Camera Mount Engineering Plaque: Matthews Studio Electronics for the Nettman Cam-Remote Engineering Plaque: Offbeat Systems for the Streamline Scoring System Engineering Plaque: Steadi-Film Corporation for the Steadi-Film System Engineering Plaque: UCLA Film and Television Archive for the restoration of the Fred Astaire Specials
1990 Engineering Emmy Award: Comark Communications, Inc. and Varian/Eimac for the Klystrode UHF High Power Amplifier Tube and Transmitter Engineering Emmy Award: Zaxcom Video, Inc. for the TBC Control System Engineering Plaque: Samuelson Alga Cinema for the Louma Camera Crane Engineering Plaque: Alan Gordon Enterprises for Image 300 35mm High Speed Camera
1991 Engineering Emmy Award: Vari-Lite for the Series 200 Lighting System Engineering Emmy Award: Camera Platforms International, Inc. for the D/ESAM Digital Mixer Engineering Plaque: Manfred Klemme for the Dcode TS-1 Time Code Slate Engineering Plaque: Lightmaker Company for the AC/DC HMI Ballast Engineering Plaque: George Hill for Optex UK - Mini Image Intensifier for ENG Cameras Engineering Plaque: Grass Valley Group for the Kadenza Digital Picture Processor Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Harry Lubcke
1992 Engineering Emmy Award: Charles Douglass for the Invention and Development of the Post Production Sweetener Engineering Emmy Award: The Accom D-Bridge 122 Video Encoder Engineering Plaque: Filmlook, Inc. for the Filmlook Process for Film Simulation Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Kerns H. Powers
1993 Engineering Emmy Award: Avid Technology for the Media Composer Engineering Emmy Award: Fox Television for the Fox Box Engineering Emmy Award: Newtek for Video Toaster Engineering Plaque: CBS Laboratories for Mini-Rapid Deployment Earth Terminal (RADET) Engineering Plaque: Les Aseere for the scientific detective work that solved the mystery of type "C" video tape dropout and ventilated scanner debris. Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Richard S. O'Brien
1994 Engineering Emmy Award: Philips Var-Lite for the VL5 Wash Luminaire Engineering Emmy Award: Kodak for the Keykode Edgeprint Film Numbering System Engineering Plaque: Cinema Products Corporation, Research in Motion, Evertz Microsystems, and the National Film Board of Canada, four creative hardware developers whose reader, decoder and user technology enabled the widespread use of Keykode.
1995 Engineering Emmy Award: C-Cube Microsystems for the MPEG Encoding Chip Set Engineering Emmy Award: Barber Technologies for the Barber Boom Engineering Emmy Award: Tascam for the DA-88 Digital Multitrack Recorder Engineering Emmy Award: Philips Laboratories for the Ghost Cancellation Engineering Plaque: Saunders Electric Incorporated for the Synchronized Load Commander System and Mobile Power Distribution Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Julius Barnathan
1996 Engineering Emmy Award: LaserPacific Media Corporation for the Supercomputer Assembly Engineering Emmy Award: General Instrument Corporation for the Digicipher Digital Television System Engineering Emmy Award: Scientific-Atlanta for the Powervu Digital Video Compression System Engineering Emmy Award: Tektronix for the Profile Professional Disk Recorder Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Joseph Flaherty
1997 Engineering Emmy Award: J.L. Fisher for the J.L. Fisher Camera Dolly Engineering Emmy Award: Panasonic for the AJ-LT75 DVCPRO Laptop Editor Engineering Emmy Award: Grand Alliance for the Digital TV Standard Engineering Plaque: The BOOM TRAC Microphone Dolly System Engineering Plaque: Alan Gordon Enterprises for the Mark V Director's Viewfinder Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Richard E. Wiley
1998 Engineering Emmy Award: Brian Critchley of Digital Projection International and Larry Hornbeck of Texas Instruments' for the Digital Micromirror Device POWER Displays Projector Engineering Emmy Award: Tiffen for the Design and Manufacture of State-of-the-art Camera Lens Filters Engineering Emmy Award: Philips Digital Video Systems and Eastman Kodak for the Design and Manufacture of the Industry-Standard High-definition Digital Telecine Engineering Plaque: Avid for the Real-Time Multicamera System Engineering Plaque: Tektronix for the Lightworks 'Heavyworks' Multistream Editing Systems Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Yves Faroudja
1999 Engineering Emmy Award: Sony for the HDCAM HDW-500 Digital HD Studio VTR Engineering Emmy Award: George Hill and Derek Lightbody for Optex UK., for the Aurasoft Soft Light Engineering Plaque: Videotek for the VTM-200 Series Multi-Format, On-Screen Monitoring Engineering Plaque: Spectracine, Inc., for the Spectra Professional IV-A Digital Exposure Meter Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Charles A. Steinberg
2000 Engineering Emmy Award: The Dorrough Loudness Meter Engineering Emmy Award: The Panavision Lightweight Camera Engineering Emmy Award: Clairmont Camera for the MovieCam Superlight Engineering Plaque: Lipsner-Smith Company and Consolidated Film Industries (CFI) for their joint development of the Model CF-8200 Ultrasonic Film Cleaning Machine Engineering Plaque: TEAC America, Inc. for the MMR-8 and MMP-16 Recorders Engineering Plaque: Soundmaster Group for the Integrated Operations Nucleus ION Operating Environment Engineering Plaque: Cooke Optics for Cooke Prime Lenses Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Charles Mesak
2001 Engineering Emmy Award: Vari-Lite for the VARI*LITE Virtuoso Console Engineering Emmy Award: Cast Lighting, Ltd. for WYSIWYG Engineering Emmy Award: Da Vinci Systems for 2K Color Enhancement System Engineering Emmy Award: Pandora International for Pogle Platinum with MegaDef Engineering Emmy Award: Panavision for the Primo Lens Series Engineering Emmy Award: Apple, Inc. for FireWire Engineering Emmy Award: Clairmont Camera for Clairmont Camera Lenses Engineering Plaque: Chapman and Leonard Studio Equipment, Inc. for the LenCin Pedestal Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Gilbert P. Wyland
2002 Engineering Emmy Award: TM Systems for The Digital Solution to Language Translation, Dubbing and Subtitling Engineering Emmy Award: Apple Inc. for Final Cut Pro Engineering Emmy Award: 2d3 for the Boujou Automated Camera Tracker Engineering Emmy Award: ARRI for Arriflex Cameras Engineering Plaque: Barber Technologies for the EZ Prompter Engineering Plaque: HBO Interactive Ventures for Band Of Brothers Interactive Television Programming Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Charles Cappleman
2003 Engineering Emmy Award: Dedo Weigert of Dedotec, USA Inc. for the Dedolight 400 Series Lighting System Engineering Emmy Award: Emory Cohen, Randolph Blim and Doug Jaqua of LaserPacific Media Corporation for the 24P HDTV Post-Production System Engineering Emmy Award: David Pringle, Leonard Pincus, Ashot Nalbandyan, Thomas Kong and George Johnson of Lightning Strikes, Inc. for Softsun Engineering Plaque: NewTek, Inc. for LightWave 3D Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award: Ray Dolby Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Engineering Award: Panavision
2004 Engineering Emmy Award: Dolby Laboratories for the Dolby LM 100 Broadcast Loudness Meter With Dialogue Intelligence