The Golden Globe Awards are given out annually for excellence in film and television. The voters until 2023 were the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: journalists and photographers who report on the American entertainment industry for predominantly non-American media. The first ceremony was held in 1944, though it only had awards for film. Television awards were added in 1956, with more categories added as time went on. Since 1973, the award ceremony has been held in January of each year (except in 2021, when it was delayed to February 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
As far as film is concerned, a look at the Golden Globe winners generally tends to give a good idea of who will win at the Academy Awards, the ceremony of which is usually held the following month.
As of 2019, the Golden Globes gives out the following twenty-seven awards each year:
- Best Motion Picture - Drama
- Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language
- Best Motion Picture - Animated
- Best Director - Motion Picture
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
- Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
- Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
- Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
- Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
- Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
- Best Original Score - Motion Picture
- Best Original Song - Motion Picture
- Cecil B. DeMille Award
- Best Television Series - Drama
- Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
- Best Miniseries or Television Film
- Best Actor - Television Series Drama
- Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy
- Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
- Best Actress - Television Series Drama
- Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy
- Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
- Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
- Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
- Carol Burnett Award for Achievement in Television
KTTV in Los Angeles locally broadcast the ceremony until the HFPA made a nationwide deal with NBC in 1965. Following an FCC ruling, NBC stopped broadcasting the ceremony from 1968 until after 1974. In 1973, the HFPA reached a deal with Metromedia to air the ceremony telecast on all of its stations until 1978 when the 1978 edition was broadcasted by NBC. In 1980, the telecast hopped again to CBS which lasted two years. From 1983 to 1988 the telecast was syndicated to local television stations via Dick Clark Productions. By this time, DCP was responsible for producing and distributing the telecast. In 1989, DCP and the HFPA signed an agreement with SuperStation TBS to carry the telecast until 1995, when both parties signed an agreement with NBC to carry the telecast once again. With a few extensions, the NBC agreement lasted until 2021 when the controversy regarding the HFPA happened. DCP decided not to produce the 2022 telecast because of this. In 2023, with DCP now owning the rights to the Golden Globe Awards, they signed an agreement with CBS to carry it once again.
In 2021, it was announced that NBC would not air the following year's Golden Globe Awards as a result of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's failure to enact reforms akin to other awards organizations, sparking a boycott from numerous actors (including Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Cruise) and organizations (including Netflix, Amazon and WarnerMedia). Though the nominations were announced on December 13, 2021, it was revealed that the announcement of winners would be done on social media instead. In 2023, the show returned to NBC as the HFPA was sold to investor Todd Boehly the year prior. That same year, the HFPA officially wound-down its operations as the rights to the Golden Globe Awards property were sold to DCP, which as of that year, is in turn owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Boehly's holding company of Eldridge Industries. The HFPA's non-philanthropic activities were transferred to the Golden Globe Foundation. The voting body for future awards will be an international panel of journalists, initially numbering 300, that for the first time will include journalists working for US media. In all, 76 countries were represented in the new body's initial membership
