Steve Harvey, Doug Herzog, Quincy Jones, Sophie Turner Laing and Norman Lear will receive the National Association of Television Program Executives’ (NATPE) 13th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, the organization announced Wednesday.
Named in honor of late NBC Entertainment head Brandon Tartikoff, the award was created to recognize a select group of television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the creation of television programming.
The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award is presented each year at a special reception in association with Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News during the annual NATPE Market and Conference on Jan. 20.
“Each of these honorees has had enormous impact on our culture and our business, which is dedicated to celebrating content excellence across multiple platforms,” NATPE President and CEO Rod Perth said. “Steve Harvey, Doug Herzog, Quincy Jones, Sophie Turner Laing and Norman Lear are fearlessly creative innovators and we can’t think of a more fitting group to honor for this year’s Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award. We look forward to honoring their achievements in television at this momentous event at NATPE Miami 2016.”
Steve Harvey is a comedian, businessman, radio mogul, TV personality and best-selling author. He is the host of the Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show “Steve Harvey,” currently in its fourth season.
His first book “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” was released in 2009 and became an international bestseller, spending 64 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. In December 2010, Harvey’s follow up, “Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man,” debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Doug Herzog is the president of Viacom’s Music and Entertainment group, which includes Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, and Logo. Over the course of his career, Herzog has launched some of television’s most successful original series, including “The Daily Show,” “South Park,” “The Colbert Report” and “Inside Amy Schumer.”
Herzog began his career at CNN before joining MTV in 1984 to create MTV News. During his first tenure at MTV, he developed series including “The Real World,” “Unplugged” and “Road Rules,” as well as the network’s signature MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Movie Awards.
Quincy Jones‘ career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV producer, record company executive, magazine founder, best-selling author and humanitarian.
Currently celebrating more than 60 years in music, Jones has won 27 Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy’s Trustees Award and the Grammy Living Legend Award. He also holds the record for the most Grammy nominations with a total of 79. He is an Emmy winner and seven-time Oscar nominee, and was recently honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Norman Lear is a producer, writer, director and author. He has enjoyed a long career in television and film, and as a political and social activist and philanthropist. Lear began his TV writing career in 1950, eventually producing the iconic series “All in the Family,” which in its nine seasons on CBS garnered four Emmy Awards for Best Comedy series and a Peabody Award in 1977. The series was followed by a succession of other television hit shows, including “Sanford and Son,” “Good Times” and “The Jeffersons.”
Lear founded People For the American Way, a non-profit organization formed to speak out for Bill of Rights guarantees and to monitor violations of constitutional freedoms. Additionally, he formed other nonprofit organizations, including the Business Enterprise Trust (1989-2000), which spotlighted exemplary social innovations in American business.