In 1943 a group of foreign journalists and photographers working in Los Angeles formed the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to make the process of distributing cinema news to foreign markets more organized. The Golden Globe Award was established by the association as an independent alternative to the Academy Award.
The inaugural Golden Globe Awards were held in January 1944 at the 20th Century Fox Studios. The first film to win the award was Henry King’s The Song of Bernadette. The ceremony changed several venues over the following years, finally settling down at the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California. The award was originally created to recognize excellence in the film industry, television categories were introduced in the late 1950s.
The award ceremony was broadcast for the first time in 1958. It was broadcast locally in Los Angeles for several years, the first national broadcast took place in 1964. Today, the Golden Globe Awards are broadcast in more than 160 countries worldwide. The ceremony generally ranks as the third most-watched award show each year, behind only the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards. Just like most other award ceremonies, it does not have a regular host.
The Golden Globes were initially conceived as an unbiased alternative to the Oscars. Today, they are rather considered a major Academy Award indicator, alongside the BAFTA Awards and the Director’s Guild Awards. Many films awarded with the Golden Globe statuette ended up winning an Academy Award as well. The winners are chosen by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Photo: hfpa.org
