ZDF’s Thomas Bellut to Receive Directorate Emmy Award

The International Academy of Television Arts & Science will honor Dr. Thomas Bellut, the director-general of ZDF, with the International Emmy Directorate Award in 2021.

The International Academy’s Special Emmy will be presented to Bellut at the 49th International Emmy Awards Gala, on November 22, 2021, in New York City.

The presentation of the award to Bellut was originally planned for the 2020 International Emmy Awards ceremony, but it was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19-related circumstances.

The award is in recognition of Bellut’s outstanding leadership of ZDF. In 2021, ZDF will mark the 60th anniversary of the organization’s founding.

“Thomas Bellut is an outstanding journalist, broadcaster and executive, with a 30-year career at ZDF who has made an important mark on television in Germany and beyond,” said Bruce L. Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy. “It’s a year later than we had planned, but we’re still very pleased that he will receive our Directorate Emmy next November.”

Bellut said: “In Germany, we particularly appreciate the value of free and independent media. I am therefore very pleased that the Academy has expressly linked the award with ZDF’s achievements in the context of German reunification. This singular chapter of contemporary history has shaped my professional life as a journalist and media manager.”