Television Academy Honors Six Programs for Addressing Social Issues in 2026

The Television Academy has named six programs as recipients of its 19th Television Academy Honors. These include four scripted series—Heated Rivalry, Adolescence, Dying For Sex, and South Park—and two non-scripted series—Deaf President Now! and Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television.

These programs have been recognized for their use of television to raise awareness about complex societal issues. The Academy stated that this year’s honorees address topics including social media and online misogyny, disability rights and deaf representation, end-of-life caregiving and cancer treatment bureaucracy, Black history and social justice, political extremism and media critique, as well as LGBTQ+ representation and toxic masculinity.

The recipients will be honored at a ceremony on Wednesday, May 20, at the Television Academy’s Saban Media Center.

Their Themes Adolescence, a limited series available on Netflix, follows a 13-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murdering a classmate.

The series explores the dangers of social media and online misogyny. It has been made available as a teaching tool in secondary schools across the UK, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and has prompted discussions in the UK House of Commons and a roundtable involving creators and child welfare organizations. Deaf President Now!

is a documentary about the 1988 student protests at Gallaudet University that led to the appointment of the university’s first Deaf president. The film was produced by a team with significant Deaf representation and aims to present the story through Deaf perspectives, emphasizing self-determination and leadership.

Dying For Sex, a limited comedy series on FX and Hulu, follows a woman with stage IV metastatic breast cancer who explores her sexual desires while navigating end-of-life caregiving and cancer treatment bureaucracy.