The Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The annual awards show was scheduled to take place at the Pasadena Convention Center in California over three nights in June – but organisers have decided to scrap its original plan because of the ongoing health crisis.
Terry O’Reilly, the chairman of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, explained: "Given our concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided that we will not be staging the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Pasadena this coming June.
"As there are so many unknowns right now with the flow of information changing on a daily, almost hourly, basis, it would simply be irresponsible to move forward with our annual celebration of excellence in daytime television at this time."
Despite this, Brent Stanton, the executive director of the Daytime Emmys, revealed that judging will continue as planned and the organisers "look forward to announcing our incredibly talented nominees later this spring".
He continued: "We are working on some interesting alternative ideas for how to best recognise the honourees later this year and will share more details in the weeks ahead."
Adam Sharp, the president and chief executive officer of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, said the decision to cancel the show was "extremely difficult".
However, he also insisted that the health and safety of attendees and staff was the primary concern.
He added: "We are closely monitoring public heath authorities’ guidance, seeking feedback from our awards communities, and evaluating the flexibility of our venue and production partners as we plan for the future in this unprecedented context."
Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic
