A brief look at the Emmy statuette

Back to Blog

Every year, actors and television programme makers gather in Los Angeles for the Primetime Emmy Awards. Honouring those involved in television and broadcasting, the ceremony is a glittering and lavish affair, attended by some of the most famous names in television competing for the iconic Emmy statuette.

In 1948, the Television Academy looked at 47 proposals for the statuette, before deciding upon the one used today. It was a design put forward by Louis McManus, a television engineer, and featured a winged woman with outstretched arms, holding an atom.

The statuette represents the Academy’s ethos of providing support and encouragement within the arts and the medium of television, the Muse of Art is represented by the wings, while the atom is a nod to the science of television – the electron. After several suggestions, the name Immy was chosen, a nick-name for an ‘image orthicon camera’, which eventually evolved into the more memorable Emmy.

The statuette is manufactured by a Chicago-based company that produces around four hundred of the 6lb 12oz statuettes for each award ceremony. This number allows for multiple winners, with any leftover statuettes put in safe-keeping for the following year. Made from a mixture of nickel, copper, gold and silver, every statuette takes over five hours to produce, with handlers wearing white gloves to eliminate the chance of fingerprints.

Here at H Cooper Glass Engravers, we can help create unique and distinctive trophies and awards, with glass engraving included. We have a design perfect for every kind of award ceremony.

Share this post

Back to Blog