“Behind every unforgettable moment on screen is a breakthrough in science, technology or engineering,” said Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy. “These groundbreaking innovations transform the way stories are created, shared and experienced. We celebrate these Emmy winners for forever changing how we experience the magnificent power of television.”
“This year’s Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards acknowledge the wide range of technologies used in our industry to aid the storytelling process,” said Barry Zegel, co-chair of the Engineering, Science & Technology Committee. “The award recipients represent a remarkable group of cutting-edge technologies that have advanced television production, safety and artistry in ways unfathomable when our industry began. In addition, we are recognizing the innovators responsible for remarkable production tools and setting standards that have revolutionized broadcast production and distribution.”
Added co-chair Wendy Aylsworth, “We also extend our hearty congratulations to Mark Schubin, who is receiving the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, and to BBC Research & Development on receiving the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award. Both are incredibly deserving of these prestigious legacy awards.”
The Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards are made possible by Television Academy sponsors Decoy, FIJI Water, Franciacorta, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, LG, People, The Ritz-Carlton and United Airlines.
The following is a list of awards and recipients to be recognized:
Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award
Honors a living individual whose ongoing contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering.
Recipient: Mark Schubin
Mark Schubin (with a degree in chemical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology) has been in television since 1967, working on every aspect, including design, manufacturing, lighting, sound, camera, editing and distribution. His diverse projects have spanned the world on all seven continents, including Antarctica, from operas to the Olympics. He helped develop the broadcasting of the Metropolitan Opera (The Met) productions to cinemas and television stations around the world and has continued supporting this project for many years since its inception.
Mark refers to himself as an “Engineer and Explainer”: His non-judgmental — but humorous — communication of facts and arcane — but relevant — information is what endears him to creatives, business executives and technologists alike. This is why he has been the program chair of the HPA Tech Retreat since 1998, speaks frequently at events and seminars on a wide array of technical topics and on the history of television, and has been a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Engineering Awards committee for more than 30 years.
A prolific engineering historian, educator and professional writer, when Sports Video Group asked him to do so, he changed his more than 33-year-old monthly column on "Video Research" in Videography magazine into SchubinCafe, which is archived by the Library of Congress. Mark’s lifetime of accomplishments in the television industry are noted beyond this archive by his numerous publications, patents and awards.
Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award
Honors an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering.
Recipient: BBC Research & Development
BBC Research & Development has had a proud history of shaping how we watch and experience television as it focused on its public mission in support of broadcasting. Since its founding in 1930, the team has led the way in breakthroughs that became everyday essentials — like FM radio, stereo sound and the Radio Data System that sends song titles and traffic updates to car radios. Over the decades, they’ve been central to important advancements in television, playing a pivotal role in the development and standardization of High-Definition Television (HDTV), Ultra High-Definition Television (UHDTV), Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) for the carriage of High Dynamic Range (HDR) information and 5G networks.
Looking ahead, their work continues to help define the future of television in its research on Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). BBC Research & Development continues to lead and participate in the important industry collaboration on the impact and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As co-founders of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, BBC Research & Development is also helping to create standards that will allow media creators to understand better human/AI collaboration and copyrightability of AI-generated media. Behind the scenes and screens, BBC R&D remains an important industry force that shapes how television can help us connect with stories and each other, today and in the future.
Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards
Presented to an individual, company or organization for developments in engineering, science and technology that are either so extensive an improvement on existing methods or so innovative in nature that they materially affect the production, recording, transmission or reception of television and thereby have elevated the storytelling process.
Recipients: George Dochev and Peter Thompson for the development of LucidLink
LucidLink is a cloud-native storage collaboration platform that streams data on demand, letting creative teams access and edit the same files instantly from anywhere - without syncing, downloading, VPNs, or complex IT. It mounts like a local drive and provides a single source of secure, always-up-to-date files. In media & entertainment, LucidLink powers edit-in-place, VFX, audio, and finishing workflows, supporting growing files and enabling distributed teams to work on large media as if it were local. Widely adopted by leading studios, streamers, and creative houses, LucidLink has become an essential tool for television projects worldwide.
Recipient: Ian Sampson for the development of Hush Pro
Hush Pro is an AI-powered audio plugin that isolates dialogue from ambient noise, transient sounds, and room reflections. It allows editors and re-recording mixers to clean up production audio with remarkable efficiency, minimal artifacts, and exceptional quality. Since its release, Hush Pro has quickly become an essential tool at post-production studios around the world, delivering pristine dialogue while significantly reducing the need for ADR.
Recipients: Fraunhofer IIS and intoPIX for the development of JPEG XS
JPEG XS is a state-of-the-art image compression format that transmits high-quality images with minimal latency and low-resource consumption, with virtually lossless image quality. JPEG XS is therefore ideal for live, professional video and broadcast applications where bandwidth presents challenges to deliver the highest quality. JPEG XS enables the transmission of high-resolution video streams over standard Ethernet infrastructure. This makes JPEG XS a fundamental game changer for real-time transmission of video for a wide variety of applications in media and studio technology as well as making real-time video processing in data centers practical.
Recipients: Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers [SMPTE], European Broadcasting Union [EBU] and Video Services Forum [VSF] for the development of the SMPTE ST 2110 Suite of Standards
SMPTE ST 2110 is a suite of standards for transmitting uncompressed video, audio, and data over digital Internet Protocol (IP) networks in professional media environments. It emerged as a replacement for traditional Serial Digital Interface (SDI) infrastructure, offering greater flexibility and scalability. It is now widely adopted, improving flexibility and scalability over the previous generation of Serial Digital Interfaces (SDI) and is foundational to all digital content transmissions.
Recipients: Mark T. Noel, Jesse Noel, Casey D. Noel and J.D. Schwalm for the development of the NACMO series of motion bases
The NACMO series of motion bases are the first of their kind, developed as a mobile motion base built specifically for television and cinema production. These machines provide a safe and streamlined approach to giving six axes of motion (seven with the optional rotator) to any otherwise static prop or set piece be it a boat, helicopter or car. The largest motion base — “Mo” — has a 75,000-pound capacity and can give all levels of motion to provide a real experience that translates on the screen for the environment and the actors involved. NACMO motion bases can be set up on location or on a sound stage. They are often used in conjunction with LED volume stages.
Recipient: Jayson Dumenigo for the development of Action Factory’s Play’n with Fire Hydrogels
Action Factory’s Play’n with Fire Hydrogels are innovative, high-performance polymers engineered to provide unmatched protection against extreme heat during the performance of fire stunts. Designed for durability and application at 74-76 degrees F; not iced, these gels maintain exceptional stability and require minimal reapplication even under the most intense conditions, significantly cutting down on the time it takes to accomplish a fire stunt on set. In a record-breaking stunt, it withstood direct flame exposure for five minutes and 25 seconds and temperatures upward of 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Its reliability, ease of use and groundbreaking heat-protective technology make Play’n with Fire gels a game-changer for television and stunt professionals, setting a new standard in safety and performance.
Recipients: Rob Drewett and Andy Nancollis for the development of the AGITO Dolly System
AGITO is a versatile, compact modular robotic dolly system designed to keep cameras steady and in motion for film and television production. Often likened to a “Swiss Army Knife” for camera movement, it folds the work of multiple traditional rigs into a single, reconfigurable platform. With quick-switch modes including free-roaming, track-based, overhead and MagTrax — the latter using a simple strip of magnetic tape to guide the camera with precision, allowing crews to reset quickly and save valuable time on set — AGITO delivers everything from classic tracking shots to complex, repeatable moves all from one adaptable system. This groundbreaking approach represents a leap forward in the art and engineering of camera movement — opening up fresh creative possibilities for both camera operators and cinematographers.
Recipients: Andy Carluccio, Jonathan Kokotajlo, Eyal Hadida and Brendan Ittelson for the development of Zoom for Broadcast
Zoom for Broadcast is a media integration platform that turns Zoom Meetings into broadcast-ready feeds, extracting individual high-quality video and audio from remote participants and routing them into professional live productions as though they were in-studio. It gives producers deep control over each guest’s AV settings, uses Zoom’s global cloud infrastructure to deliver low-latency, reliable streams without costly equipment or complex setups, and elegantly scales from one guest to hundreds in a familiar meeting experience. With robust application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK) support, it plugs into existing production tools, making high-quality remote contributions both accessible and affordable — and eliminating the traditional barriers of expense and technical complexity in live broadcasting.
For more information, please visit:
Zoom.com
Recipients: Boris Yamnitsky, Jason Clement, Mike Escola and Peter McAuley for the development of Boris FX Continuum
Boris FX Continuum stands as one of the most enduring plugin collections in post-production history, relied upon for decades by editors, motion graphics designers and VFX artists. Its tools have shaped the look of broadcast television, becoming a defining standard for effects, transitions and image restoration. With a legacy defined by reliability and innovation, Continuum continues to evolve through graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, machine learning–driven effects and a deep library of presets, ensuring its ongoing role as a cornerstone of modern post-production.
About the Television Academy
The Television Academy strives to shape and advance the dynamic television landscape; cultivate a diverse, inclusive and accessible professional community; and advocate for the television industry while capturing the spirit of a new generation of content creators and industry professionals. Through innovative programs, publications and events, the Academy and its Foundation foster and empower storytellers. The Academy also celebrates those who excel in the industry, recognizing their achievements through awards and accolades, including the renowned Emmy Award. Membership in the Academy is open to working professionals in the television industry. For more information, please visit
TelevisionAcademy.com.