40th College Television Awards Goes Virtual; Jimmy Fallon, Kelly McCreary, and More to Present!

The Television Academy Foundation today announced that for the first time in its 40-year history, the College Television Awards has been reimagined as a virtual event that will be livestreamed to a worldwide audience on Saturday, May 30, 2020 , at 5:00 PM (PDT) .

The College Television Awards typically recognizes and rewards excellence in student-produced programs from U.S. colleges and universities with a star-studded ceremony, capping several days of professional development with industry pros in Los Angeles. This year the 40 th College Television Awards program has been reimagined as a virtual event to support its 98 student nominees and celebrate their achievements, despite restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"A College Television Award nomination is one of the highest honors aspiring students can receive because they are selected by members of the Television Academy," said Madeline Di Nonno, chair of the Television Academy Foundation. "While these exceptional students aren't able to come together this year in person, we wanted to ensure that this celebration would be equally special and memorable. By livestreaming the awards to a global audience, the Foundation is able to provide greater exposure for our nominees than ever before. We're very proud to have international student nominees from Israel, South Korea and Venezuela, among other countries; and now their families around the world can join in the celebration."

Nominees will join in the festivities online, vying for top honors in eight categories, including comedy, drama, news and nonfiction series, and a $3,000 cash prize. Awards will be presented to students remotely by television stars including Tichina Arnold ( THE NEIGHBORHOOD ), Melissa Barrera ( Vida ), Gabi Butler ( Cheer) , Jimmy Fallon ( THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON ), Kelly McCreary ( GREY'S ANATOMY ), Ryan Michelle Bathe ( ALL RISE ; The First Wives Club ), Mishel Prada ( Vida; Riverdale ), Drew and Jonathan Scott ( PROPERTY BROTHERS: FOREVER HOME ), Yeardley Smith ( THE SIMPSONS ), and Shoshannah Stern ( Grey's Anatomy; THIS CLOSE ). The show will be hosted by CBS's THE HENRY FORD'S INNOVATION NATION and IMDb's On the Scene - Interviews correspondent Albert Lawrence , who is also a Television Academy Foundation alumnus.

The College Television Awards will also include the presentation of the Loreen Arbus Focus on Disability Scholarship, a $10,000 cash prize to a student program that best portrays disability topics and issues or helps emerging artists with a disability gain recognition. In addition, the Seymour Bricker Humanitarian Award will be presented during the show.

Audiences from around the world can watch the livestream for free on May 30 at TelevisionAcademy.com/CTA .

This year the College Television Awards program also reinvented its Nominee Summit that provides educational and networking opportunities for students. The Foundation is arranging exclusive, online events and webinars designed to educate, mentor and enhance professional development for all nominees prior to the awards show. Students will take part in virtual panel discussions with creative and executive talent from television series such as Insecure , THE GOOD DOCTOR , LEGO MASTERS , Vida , The Wizard of Lies and more.

The 40 th College Television Awards is supported by philanthropists and corporate partners including PEOPLE ® , WarnerMedia, the Loreen Arbus Foundation, Creative Artists Agency, FilmLA, the Johnny Carson Foundation, STARZ, Technicolor and United Airlines ® .