Who Votes For The 2018 Emmy Awards?

For the cast and crew of television shows, tonight’s the biggest night of the year. The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards airs on NBC at 8 p.m. EDT, with Colin Jost and Michael Che as the hosts. The event will celebrate the best of the best in TV, but unlike some award shows where fans are the ones who vote, the Emmy winners are chosen by peers in the entertainment industry.

The Television Academy has over 22,000 members who are asked every year to cast their votes. The actors, directors, writers and creators who take home a trophy at the 2018 Emmys will do so because their peers thought they deserved to. That’s one of the reasons why these awards mean so much and are coveted.

The large pool of members helps ensure there’s a wide range of people voting for each category, both in social background and in expertise. Not every person votes for each award, though. The Academy splits its members into different peer groups, based on their area of expertise. Once they’re divvied up, each group votes in the Emmy categories that they have the most knowledge in.

So, how does one get into this club? First, a prospective member must decide which peer group they are best suited for. Then, they need to be able to satisfy all the requirements for that specific cluster. Before submitting an application, which can take four to six weeks to process, an individual must also supply a contact to verify employment and show that they have the minimum number of credits required.

These are the peer groups that Television Academy members are broken into:

• Animation
• Art Directors/Set Decorators
• Casting Directors
• Children's Programming
• Choreography
• Cinematographers
• Commercials
• Costume Design & Supervision
• Daytime Programming
• Directors
• Documentary Programming
• Interactive Media
• Lighting, Camera & Technical Arts
• Los Angeles Area
• Makeup Artists/Hairstylists
• Motion & Title Design
• Music
• Performers
• Picture Editors
• Producers
• Production Executives
• Professional Representatives
• Public Relations
• Reality Programming
• Sound
• Sound Editors
• Special Visual Effects
• Stunts
• Television Executives
• Writers

Think you’re a good fit for one of these groups? Go ahead and apply on the Emmys website to be considered for a spot. Then check out the Emmy Awards tonight on NBC at 8 p.m. EDT to see what you might be a part of next year.