Legendary television star Carol Burnett will be the inaugural recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s (HFPA) new special achievement award for television, and the award will henceforth be named the Carol Burnett Award, the association announced this week.
HFPA officials said the honor is the television equivalent to the association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award for achievement in films.
“For more than 50 years, comedy trailblazer Carol Burnett has been breaking barriers while making us laugh,’’ HFPA President Meher Tatna said in a statement. “She was the first woman to host a variety sketch show, ‘The Carol Burnett Show.’ She was also the first woman to win both the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and Kennedy Center Honors. And now we add another first to her running list: the first recipient — and namesake — of the new Golden Globe top honor for achievement in television, the Carol Burnett Award. We are profoundly grateful for her contributions to the entertainment industry and honored to celebrate her legacy forever at the Golden Globes.’’
Burnett will receive the honor during the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 6, 2019 at the Beverly Hilton. Burnett is a five-time Golden Globe winner.
The Carol Burnett Award was created to honor “the highest level of achievement’’ in television, according to the HFPA.
