Bill Nye to Receive Lifetime Achievement at Children’s & Family Emmys
Bill Nye is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the 4th Annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards next month.
NATAS on Thursday also announced its 2026 Children’s & Family Gold Circle and Silver Circle Honor Society inductees, as well as the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards winners for Individual Achievement in Animation and Outstanding Public Service Initiative. Winners include PBS’ “Carl the Collector,” as well as individuals from Netflix’s “Star Trek: Prodigy,” “Ultraman: Rising,” “Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld” and “Spellbound,” as well as HBO Max’s “Daffy in Wacklyland,” Paramount+’s “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Disney+’s “Win or Lose.”
Nye is being honored for his work as a science educator, engineer, television presenter, inventor, and New York Times bestselling author. His TV credits include “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” among other shows; in 2025, Nye was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden. He was included in the Time 100 Health list, has a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and served for 15 years as CEO of The Planetary Society, a non-governmental space organization co-founded by Carl Sagan.
“Mr. Nye is one of the most revered broadcast educators in television history, having instilled multiple generations of children with an appreciation for the extraordinary world of science,” said NATAS president/CEO Adam Sharp. “It is an honor to celebrate his career, as well as the esteemed careers of this year’s Gold and Silver Circle inductees and individual honorees, alongside this year’s fantastic nominees who are building upon their work with important children’s programming today.”
Said Nye in a statement: “This is quite an honor. Thank you. As you may know, I pretty much put my heart and soul into all the shows I’ve worked on. I believe that the process of science is the best idea humans have ever had. I loved making shows that encouraged kids of all ages to embrace the P, B, and J – the Passion, Beauty, and Joy – of science, while also showing that you, the viewer, can change the world. I’ve spent my life doing what I love, and this award is not only a celebration of my past work, but a reminder of the impact we can have if we choose to invest in science education and the next generation of leaders.”
Meanwhile, here are the honorees, as determined by juried panels, for Individual Achievement in Animation (in each of the six animation disciplines) and Outstanding Public Service Initiative:
Outstanding Public Service Initiative
“Carl the Collector” (PBS)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Background Design
Bastien Grivet, Visual Development Artist, “Star Trek: Prodigy” (Netflix)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Character Animation
James Saunders, Animator, “Ultraman: Rising” (Netflix)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Character Animation
Max Winston, Animated and Fabricated By, “Daffy in Wacklyland” (HBO Max)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Character Design
Kaloyan Athannassov, Character Designer, “Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld” (Netflix)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Color
Mark Anthony Mohamed, Color Supervisor, “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Paramount+)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Production Design
Brett Nystul, Production Designer, “Spellbound” (Netflix)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Storyboard
Esteban Bravo, Storyboard Artist, “Win or Lose” (Disney+)
Also, here are the 2026 inductees to the Gold and Silver Circle Honor Society in the Children’s & Family community. Inductees “are exceptional professionals who have performed distinguished service and made enduring contributions to the continued excellence of the television industry” for at least 50 or 25 years, respectively:
Gold Circle – 2026 Children’s & Family Inductees:
- Vince Deadrick Jr., Stunt Coordinator and Performer – Nickelodeon Studios; CBS; Paramount; Universal; ABC
- Michael Frith, Producer, Creative & Design Consultant – The Jim Henson Company, Sirius Thinking, No Strings
Silver Circle – 2026 Children’s & Family Inductees:
- Sara DeWitt, Senior Vice President/General Manager, Children’s Media Innovator – PBS Kids
- Amy Friedman, Executive Producer – Redhead Consulting; Nickelodeon; Universal Kids (NBCUniversal); Warner Bros. Discovery; Cartoon Network; Aspen Institute; Kidscreen
- Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Executive, Producer, Manager – The Gotham Group; Atlas Management; Nelvana Animation; William Morris Agency
- Alan Muraoka, Performer, Director, Producer – Sesame Workshop (Sesame Street); PBS; HBO; Disney Channel; Olney Theatre Center
- Paul Siefken, President and CEO, Fred Rogers Productions; Production Executive – PBS; Cartoon Network
- Rosemarie Truglio, Senior VP of Global Education at Sesame Workshop – Sesame Workshop/Sesame Street; PBS
Nye’s honor and others will be recognized Children’s & Family Emmys Honors Ceremony on March 1, while winners of this year’s competitive competition will be revealed during the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards Ceremony on March 2. Both ceremonies will take place at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York.
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