The Primetime Emmy Awards generally air every September, on the Sunday before the official start of the fall television season.

It depicts a winged muse holding an electron, combining visual metaphors for the arts and sciences.

[3] The name "Emmy" comes from the nickname "Immy", used to describe the image-orthicon camera tube that was a significant 1940s technical breakthrough in capturing images for television.

[5] Originally, there was only one Emmy event held per year to honor shows nationally broadcast in the United States.

In 1968, an "Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming" category was added once, but due to the voting rules of the time, judges could opt to either award one or no Emmy, and in the end they decided that no one should be nominated.

This snub outraged soap opera writer Agnes Nixon, causing her to write in The New York Times, "...after viewing the recent fiasco of the Emmy awards, it may well be considered a mark of distinction to have been ignored by this group.

[9] In December 2021, the ATAS and NATAS announced major realignments to the Emmy Awards, accounting for the growth of streaming services by aligning their categories and the ceremonies' scopes around factors such as the themes and frequency of such programming, rather than dayparts:[10][11] Among the Primetime Emmy Award rules, a show must originally air on American television during the eligibility period between June 1 and May 31 of any given year.

In order to be considered a national primetime show, the program must air between 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., and to at least 50 percent of the country.

Also, a show that receives what the academy calls a "general theatrical release" before its first airing (either via television or the Internet) is ineligible.

The Primetime Emmy statuette is made of copper, nickel, silver and gold and takes five and a half hours to make.

They are 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.