Golden Globe vs. Emmy: Unveiling the Battle for Prestige and Recognition in the Entertainment Industry

Entertainment industry awards always held a special weight for the artists. The prestige of being accepted and praised by fellow artists makes actors and musicians one of Hollywood’s most notable and sought clients. However, not every award is as prestigious as the Emmys and Golden Globes. Both awards have been part of the entertainment industry that every artist wants to complete during their careers. With the recent news of Emmy nominations and the award season slowly but surely getting active again, we decided to discuss which award is more prestigious in Hollywood – Golden Globes or Emmys.

The Emmys are much more prestigious awards than Golden Globes in the entertainment industry. Despite Golden Globes covering both television and film, Emmys became more relevant, especially after the scandals that included the Hollywood Foreign Press in 2021, which indicated that studios heavily influenced voters (journalists) to award Golden Globes to their projects. The fact that Emmy voters include professional actors and numerous peers in the movie and television organizations and are part of the four major annual American entertainment awards makes it one of the most prestigious awards in the world.

Golden Globes and Emmys have been part of the entertainment industry since the 1940s, but with every new award show and season, it seems that the opinion and feelings about each award are changing. However, this time it seems that one award is considered more relevant and prestigious than another. If you are interested, stay with us until the end.

What are Golden Globes?

Before fully indulging in the topic, let’s establish what each award represents. Only the Oscars were Hollywood’s major acting film award during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

However, in 1944, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of foreign journalists, reported on the American entertainment industry and decided to create its own awards besides the Oscars. Since its establishment, Golden Globes award outstanding performances in film and television and are mostly held every January, at least a month or two before the Oscars.

93 jury members of HFPA nominate and vote for the best performances of the previous year, and every season, the award show is broadcasted worldwide. Recently, Golden Globe Awards intellectual property and assets were acquired by Dick Clark Productions, which will organize its first show in January 2024.

What are the Emmys?

Emmy Awards are considered as most prestigious television awards in the world. The organizations of ATAS (Academy of Television & Sciences), NATAS (National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences), and IATAS (International Academy of Television and Sciences) vote every year for outstanding performances in television, including various technical and scientific merits in American and international television industry.

Various Emmy Awards were held across the whole award season, with Primetime, Daytime, Sports, and other Emmy Awards being given to the outstanding individuals and projects of the previous year.

To learn about each award in more detail, we will analyze them in special sections.

Award shows

This section focuses on how the most luxurious part of the awards shows are conducted. Golden Globe Awards are usually held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, which is really lavish.

The biggest film and TV stars are invited to the show, where they eat, drink, and leisurely watch the hosts, mostly comedians, who fill out the time between the categories and entertain during the whole night.

It is a truly prestigious atmosphere because Golden Globes always tried to replicate the reputation and feel of the Oscars, but in a more relaxing way – alcoholic beverages and food combined with a relaxing atmosphere do emphasize Golden Globe Award shows’ uniqueness.

Emmys are prestigious in their own way since they are the biggest and most notable television awards in the world, but that luxury cannot be measured by the amount of extravagance that the Golden Globes do.

Importance

Now, this is where the Emmys shine. One of the biggest dreams of artists, especially actors, and musicians, is to win all four major annual American entertainment awards – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. Interestingly enough, the opinion of the Hollywood Foreign Press on who is the best in the entertainment industry was never really measured by Hollywood; on the other side, the Emmy Awards are voted by major acting academies, which include the most notable actors in the industry.

Emmys focus on every aspect of the actors’ performance and projects, making those wins seem much more important. As someone who watched both shows for numerous years, I would argue that the Emmys seem much more significant and serious since Golden Globes emphasized a more leisurely atmosphere where actors get drunk and laugh at the roasts of the comedian hosts.

Moreover, it seems that over the years, bookmakers heavily favored accolades like SAGA (Screen Actors Guild Awards) and Critics’ Choice Movie Awards over Golden Globes wins, which would eventually determine the win for the most prestigious award in the industry, the Oscars.

Emmys are also propelled by over 20000 industry peers voting for outstanding performances, which gives even more significance to this TV award, but let’s explain this further in the next section.

Voting

This section is arguably the most important one when comparing these two awards because it decides the night’s ultimate winner. For example, Golden Globes have 93 juries, all members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, who decide the season’s best performances by giving points from 1 to 5.

On the other hand, the aforementioned three major tv and film academies, which include United States and international members, vote for their own categories – for example, writers vote for best writing, while actors vote for outstanding performances of their peers. Of course, the respective voters of both awards and accolades groups need to watch all projects and determine the best of the best.

Now, there have been a lot of controversies over the voters not watching projects and performances and still voting for their “favorites,” which we will discuss further in another section, but the fact that over 20000 people from the TV and film industry are voting for best TV performances for Emmy carries bigger weight than 93 journalists for Golden Globes.

Prestige

This section is heavily connected with the importance section we already discussed, but let’s define the word “prestige” to explain these next points more clearly. According to the online dictionary, prestige is defined as the level of respect at which others regard a person or thing.

Golden Globes are luxurious and carry a certain “old Hollywood” aura during their final award shows, but they never give out the prestige as Emmys did. Of course, this also ties into the voting system and who votes for the outstanding performances, and Hollywood Foreign Press juries never held the importance as the industry people who actually do the same work as the nominated actors, directors, etc.

Emmys are considered the “Oscars of television,” which does hold more weight than the Golden Globes, which were essential “a more relaxing version of Oscars.” Of course, recent controversies that plagued the Hollywood Foreign Press in the last decade or so really degraded the “prestige” aspect of the award, which we will discuss in the next and final section for this comparison.

Controversy

Both organizations had a fair share of controversies over the years. The Emmys issue was more of a critique of how they nominated the best project of the previous television season.

For example, the recent nomination list for this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards saw the actors from the same show dominating their categories. Of course, this happened before with shows like ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ which absolutely dominated and swept the awards in 2020, taking home unbelievable nine Emmys, while this year sees TV shows like ‘Succession,’ and ‘The White Lotus’ absolutely dominating their respective categories.

Repetitiveness and potential snubs of other projects are what the public criticizes a lot about Emmys, but the argument of the last season’s “favorites” is still strong enough to kind of support their premise.

Golden Globes had a massive controversy after the American publication LA Times revealed their investigation of the Hollywood Foreign Press and their misgivings and scandals over the years. They revealed that 93 juries of HFPA often took bribes and accepted lavish gifts from studio executives to propel their projects as the favorites for Golden Globes.

A notable British comedian Ricky Gervais hosted the award shows multiple times and openly joked about how Harvey Weinstein and other big studio executives in Hollywood bribed the journalists to have their projects at the forefront for the Golden Globes, which was an “open secret” that was confirmed by LA Times investigation.

The lack of diversity of nominated shows and actors is what truly sparked the rumors of systematic racism in Hollywood in 2021, especially HFPA, whose favorites included almost all white nominees. Of course, among 93 juries, there were no Black members at all, which only emphasized this controversy more.

Finally (or not), LA Times reported that some jury members were not watching projects and weren’t objective in their picks for the outstanding performances in TV and film. These controversies led to TV and film stars not attending the Golden Globes, which “forced” HFPA to not broadcast the 2021 award show and “privately” awarded the best performances.

With all being said, let’s conclude this comparison and reasoning behind our choice of the more prestigious award in Hollywood.

Golden Globes vs. Emmys – which award is more prestigious in the entertainment industry?

After thorough research, the experience of watching the lead-up to these award shows, and ultimately following the main events, Emmys are more prestigious than Golden Globes. Yes, the prelude to the main award show of the season, the Oscars, is what led HFPA to create Golden Globes in the first place, but it seems that it never held the importance and prestige as the Academy Awards.

Besides the relaxing atmosphere with many drinks and entertainment, Golden Globes were never part of the four major American entertainment awards – Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tonys (EGOT). Moreover, the controversies and the lack of care for the projects dropped the show’s prestigious aspect, which many actors and other industry members decided to boycott.

Moreover, the fact that Emmys voters consist of TV and film industry members, that include over 20000 colleagues and peers of the nominated, puts the notable television award show above Golden Globes and their 93 foreign journalists. HFPA sold the rights and intellectual property of the Golden Globes to Dick Clark Productions, which did mention that they would “fix” the organization’s problems and try to make the award show enjoyable and important again.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Let us know in the comments below!