The 54th International Emmy Awards take place on Monday, November 23, 2026, in New York City. Two-time Emmy nominee Michael Urie will host the gala, where winners will be announced across 16 categories, with 64 nominees from 22 countries. The United Kingdom leads the nominations for the seventh year in a row, with 14, followed by Brazil with nine and Spain with five.
Unlike the Primetime Emmys, which honour American television, the International Emmys exist for one purpose: to recognise excellence in television produced outside the United States. That makes them the most genuinely global night in the television calendar, and the 2026 field — from an Argentine drama about a former president to a British drama about bare-knuckle boxing in Victorian London — shows how wide that world now is.
When and where is the ceremony?
The winners will be announced at the 54th International Emmy Awards Gala in New York City on Monday, November 23, 2026. The gala is chaired this year by Sean Cohan, and the International Academy says it will welcome more than 1,000 international media and entertainment executives to New York.
The ceremony is preceded by the International Emmy World Television Festival, which runs from November 20 to 22. All nominees convene in New York for a welcome cocktail and nominee panels and presentations across those three days, so by the time the gala begins on Monday night, the nominees have already spent a weekend talking about each other’s work.
One important difference from the shows most readers know: the International Emmy gala is an industry event, not a televised broadcast in the way the Primetime Emmys or the Golden Globes are. The International Academy has not published a public broadcast or streaming arrangement for the 2026 gala in the materials checked for this article. The reliable way to follow the results is the Academy’s own site, iemmys.tv, and the trade press, which report the winners as they are announced. Do not trust social media summaries that appear before the gala begins: the winners are not known in advance.
Who is hosting, and who is being honoured?
Michael Urie, the actor, producer and director, will host the gala. The International Academy announced his appointment on November 5, 2026, describing him as a two-time Emmy nominee. Urie is best known to television audiences for his long-running role in Ugly Betty and his stage work, and his appointment continues the Academy’s habit of choosing hosts who bridge television and theatre.
The evening’s special honour goes to Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, who will receive the International Emmy Founders Award. The Founders Award recognises a figure who has made an exceptional contribution to international television, and Bajaria’s role at Netflix — the streamer that carries several of this year’s nominees, including The Eternaut from Argentina and Vir Das: Fool Volume from India — makes her a fitting recipient in a year when streaming platforms dominate the nominations.
The headline races: Drama and Comedy
The Drama Series category is the night’s marquee race, and three countries have a nominee in both Drama and Comedy: the UK, Argentina and India. The Drama nominees are A Thousand Blows from the United Kingdom, Carême from France, Menem from Argentina and Real Kashmir Football Club from India.
A Thousand Blows, from Disney+, is a period drama about bare-knuckle boxing in Victorian London. Carême, from Apple TV, dramatises the life of the celebrated French chef. Menem, from Amazon MGM Studios, takes on the presidency of Carlos Menem in Argentina. Real Kashmir Football Club, from Sony LIV, follows a football club in one of the most contested regions in the world. It is a category in which no two nominees resemble each other, which is exactly the point of an international award.
The Comedy nominees are División Palermo, season 2, from Argentina (known in English as Community Squad); Man vs Baby from the United Kingdom; Old Dog, New Tricks from Spain; and Vir Das: Fool Volume from India. Vir Das is a notable story in his own right: this is his third career International Emmy nomination, making him the first Indian performer to earn three nominations. His stand-up special, produced for Netflix, is up against three scripted comedies, which underlines how broad the Academy’s definition of comedy has become.
The acting races
Best Performance by an Actor has four nominees: Javier Cámara in Yakarta, from Spain; Ricardo Darín in The Eternaut, from Argentina; Ian Roberts in A Kind of Madness, from South Africa; and Bobby Schofield in Unforgivable, from the United Kingdom. Darín is the biggest name in the field — a veteran of Argentine cinema whose Netflix series The Eternaut was one of the year’s most talked-about international productions — but the category is genuinely open, and the Academy’s acting prizes have a history of rewarding performances that American audiences have never seen.
Best Performance by an Actress has four nominees: Mona Mina Leon in Holy Sh!t, from Belgium; Bárbara Mori in Lucca’s World, from Mexico; Park Ji-hyun in You and Everything Else, from South Korea; and Sheridan Smith in I Fought the Law, from the United Kingdom. Smith is the most familiar name to British viewers, playing a real-life campaigner in an ITV drama, while Mori’s Lucca’s World is a Netflix film about a mother fighting for her son’s treatment.
The other categories
The full field runs to 16 categories and 64 nominees. In TV Movie/Mini-Series, the nominees are Anatomía de un Instante (The Anatomy of a Moment) from Spain, Hyper Knife from South Korea, Máscaras de Oxigênio Não Cairão Automaticamente (Oxygen Masks Will Not Drop Down Automatically) from Brazil, and Prisoner 951 from the United Kingdom.
In Documentary, the nominees include Louis Theroux: The Settlers from the United Kingdom, Marcial Maciel: The Wolf of God from Mexico, One “Orphan” Every Hour from Singapore, and Addiction Criminals from France. The Current Affairs nominees include Al Jazeera Investigates: Hasina: 36 Days in July from Qatar, and Exposure: Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War from the United Kingdom. In News, the nominees are Fantástico: Isolated in the Amazon from Brazil, Lembra-te de Mim (Remember Me) from Portugal, Missing in Gaza from Al Jazeera Arabic in Qatar, and The World: 24 Hours in the Kill Zone from Sky News in the United Kingdom. The Academy notes that one programme nominated in the News category was submitted in error and the list has been corrected.
The Telenovela nominees are Garota do Momento from Brazil, Leyla from Türkiye, Uzak Şehir (Far Away) from Türkiye, and Valle Salvaje, season 2 (Wild Valley), from Spain. The Arts Programming nominees include Live Aid at 40: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took on the World from the United Kingdom. The remaining categories cover Kids: Animation, Kids: Factual & Entertainment, Kids: Live-Action, Non-Scripted Entertainment, Short-Form Series and Sports Documentary.
How the International Emmys are judged
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership organisation of television figures from more than 70 countries. Entries are judged in semi-final rounds hosted around the world — this year’s semi-final judging hosts included organisations from Johannesburg to Seoul, Athens to Bogotá — before the final nominees are chosen. That decentralised judging is the point: the awards are meant to reflect what television looks like outside the United States, judged by people who make television outside the United States.
What this year’s field says about television
Three patterns stand out. First, streaming platforms are now the dominant route to an International Emmy nomination: Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, Amazon MGM Studios and Sony LIV all carry nominees. Second, the field is genuinely multilingual — Spanish, Portuguese, French, Korean, Turkish and Hindi-language work all feature. Third, the line between drama and documentary is blurring: several of this year’s most prominent nominees dramatise real events, from the Menem presidency to the life of a French chef.
For readers in the United States, the practical consequence is that many of these programmes are already available to watch. The Eternaut, Vir Das: Fool Volume, Lucca’s World and A Thousand Blows are all on streaming services, and the gala on November 23 is a good excuse to catch up on the ones you missed.
For a fuller explanation of how the Primetime Emmys fit into the wider awards system, including who votes and how the winners are chosen, see our guide to how awards voting works. And for the season’s other big television and film ceremonies, see our guides to the Golden Globes 2027 and the Oscars 2027 (Oscars 2027 Explained: Shortlists, Nominations and the Road to 14 March).
Frequently asked questions
When are the 2026 International Emmy Awards?
Monday, November 23, 2026, at the 54th International Emmy Awards Gala in New York City. The World Television Festival runs November 20–22.
Who is hosting the International Emmys?
Michael Urie, the two-time Emmy-nominated actor, producer and director.
How many nominees are there?
Sixty-four nominees across 16 categories, from 22 countries. The UK leads with 14 nominations, followed by Brazil with nine and Spain with five.
Who is receiving the Founders Award?
Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer.
Can I watch the ceremony on television?
The gala is an industry event, and the International Academy has not published a public broadcast or streaming arrangement for the 2026 ceremony in the materials checked for this article. Results will be published on iemmys.tv and reported by the trade press as they are announced.
What are the big races to watch?
Drama Series, with A Thousand Blows, Carême, Menem and Real Kashmir Football Club; Comedy, with División Palermo, Man vs Baby, Old Dog, New Tricks and Vir Das: Fool Volume; and both acting categories.
Sources
- International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, “2026 International Emmy Awards Nominees Announced” (September 23, 2026): International Emmy Awards
- International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, “Two-Time Emmy Nominated Actor Michael Urie to Host International Emmy Awards in New York, November 23” (November 5, 2026): International Emmy Awards
- Wikipedia, “54th International Emmy Awards”: Wikipedia
- Señal News, “International Emmy Awards nominations span 22 countries”: Senal News