The Golden Globe Awards are awards given out each year during a formal dinner, for motion pictures and television programs. Run by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) since 1944, these are usually regarded as the third most publicized awards for movies and television, after the Academy Awards (for film) and Emmy Awards (for television). The awards are voted on by a group of about 90 international journalists working in Hollywood, California.
The Golden Globes are touted as the preludes to the Oscars. Until 2003, the awards had been scheduled so that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sent out their ballots for the Academy Awards only days after the Golden Globe award winners are announced.
Criticism
The HFPA is sometimes criticized:
- Membership is not based on journalism credentials and accomplishments. Members are only required to be paid for four published works each year, with the only penalty for not meeting that minimal level is being moved to "inactive" status for that year.
- Membership requires the sponsorship of two existing members, and has historically been limited to around 90 members.
- Members must maintain a permanent, primary residence in Southern California, a criterion which seems unrelated to journalistic ability.
- Members appear at times to be more motivated by the perks and attention they receive than the quality of the work they are evaluating. Movie studioss annually arrange elaborate meals where HFPA members can mingle with directors and actors. In 1975, during a media get-together in Dallas, Texas, several members admitted that they "always remember which studios are extra nice to us." In 1981, Pia Zadora received an award after her husband, Meshulam Riklis, flew the HFPA to Las Vegas.
- A dispropriate number of members are photographers. A thirty-year veteran of the organization noted that "everyone comes in as a writer but many eventually become photographers as well, because there’s more money in photos."
In 1996, a former HFPA President founded the International Press Academy as a more open, broader-based, "less easily manipulated" operation than the HFPA.
Award categories
First given in 1944, the Golden Globe awards were limited to motion pictures until 1956 when awards for television were added.
- best drama;
- best comedy;
- best director;
- best actor;
- best actress;
- best supporting actor;
- best supporting actress;
- best foreign-language film;
- The Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures
Award winners
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