Steve Bornstein, Martha Raddatz, and Sam Pollard will receive lifetime achievement honors at the 2026 Sports Emmys and 2026 News & Documentary Emmys, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday. Additionally, the three ceremonies' hosts have named: Roy Wood Jr., Amber Ruffin, and Michael Ian Black.
The sports nominations were previously announced on March 25; Tom Brady, Charles Barkley, Candace Parker, Jason Kelce, and Eli and Petyon Manning were among the notable names in contention. (Alas, Lady Gaga was not eligible this year after winning last year for the Super Bowl LIX pregame show.)
Brady, Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth, Greg Olsen, and Bill Raftery are nominated for Best Sports Personality: Event Analyst. Barkley, Parker, Clark Kellogg, Mina Kimes, Pedro Martinez, and Alex Rodriguez are up for Best Sports Personality: Studio Analyst. Kelce is up for Best Sports Personality: Emerging On-Air Talent alongside Andraya Carter, Katie George, Matt Ryan, Richard Sherman, and J.J. Watt.
The NFL, which dominates the ratings, dominated the field for Best Live Sports Series, with the contenders including Fox NFL, ESPN and ABC's Monday Night Football, ESPN's Monday Night Football With Petyon and Eli, NBC's Sunday Night Football, and Prime Video's Thursday Night Football.
Up for Best Sports Documentary Series are Alex vs ARod, Allen Iv3rson, America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, Believers: Boston Red Sox, and Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel. The contenders for Best Documentary: Long-Form are Butterfly in a Blizzard, Champions of the Golden Valley, Clemente, E60: Southpaw – The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott, Elway, and Surviving Ohio State.
Among the news and doc nominees were programs covering the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and a look back at Hurricane Katrina.
Natural disasters that affected average citizens are recognized in the category of Best Extended Breaking News Coverage: PBS's Catastrophic Fires, CNN's Deadly Texas Flash Floods, ABC's Fire Emergency in Southern California, CBS' The Fires, and CNN's L.A. Wildfires.
Wartime coverage and other important events make up the nominees for Best Documentary: POV's Black Snow, National Geographic's Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, Multitude Films' Life After, PBS' 2000 Meters to Andriivka, CNN's Prime Minister, Netflix's Turning Point: The Vietnam War, and POV's Union.
Perhaps the most talked-about category is Best Live News Program, where the contenders are ABC World News Tonight With David Muir, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, ABC's Good Morning America, CNN's The Lead With Jake Tapper, NBC Nightly News With Tom Llamas, and NBC's Today Show.
The corresponding Best Recorded News Program nominees are ABC News Nightline, CBS News Sunday Morning, National Geographic's Trafficked With Mariana van Zeller, and CNN's The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper.
See the complete list of Sports and News & Doc Emmys nominations on the NATAS website.
Here's a closer look at when the special honorees will be feted this year across three separate ceremonies:
Sports Emmy Awards — May 26
• Steve Bornstein, sports media and entertainment executive, will receive Lifetime Achievement honors
• Roy Wood Jr., comedian, Emmy-nominated producer, writer and host of CNN's Have I Got News For You will host the ceremony
News & Documentary Emmy Awards, News categories — May 27
• Martha Raddatz, Emmy and Peabody-winning ABC News correspondent, will receive Lifetime Achievement honors
• Amber Ruffin, Emmy and Tony-nominated writer, host and comedian (CNN's Have I Got News For You), will host the ceremony
News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Documentary categories — May 28
• Sam Pollard, Emmy-winning documentarian and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, will receive Lifetime Achievement honors
• Michael Ian Black, actor, writer and comedian (CNN's Have I Got News For You) will host the ceremony
This item was originally published March 25, and updated April 21 with new information
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