North Hollywood, CA – The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Board of Governors have voted to bestow its prestigious Governors Award to Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary Films. Nevins is the 15th individual to receive this honor since the award's inception in 1978. Television Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner made the announcement today.

Nevins will receive the Governors Award, saluting an individual, company or organization that has made a substantial impact and demonstrated the extraordinary use of television, at the 2009 Creative Arts Emmy® Awards on Saturday, Sept. 12, at Los Angeles' NOKIA Theatre. The Creative Arts Awards will be shown as a two-hour special on Sept. 18 at 9 a.m. on E! Entertainment.

"Sheila Nevins is highly deserving of the Governor's Award after 21 years of distinguished participation in the Emmy competition by her acclaimed HBO unit, as well as for her lengthy, multiple award-winning career," Shaffner says. "Sheila's remarkably sustained work-in-progress continues into the 2009 season with the unit's trademark service to the documentary ideal."

"She's a genuine original in every sense of the word," said HBO Co-President Richard Plepler. "We are so proud and honored that she is a part of our family and that the Academy has given her this well deserved recognition for her extraordinary body of work."

"Sheila has set a standard of excellence in documentary programming for years. Her unerring instincts, passion, creativity and intellect have led to programming which moves, informs and challenges. We are proud and honored that Sheila has been recognized with the Governor's Award," added Michael Lombardo, President, Programming and West Coast Operations, HBO.

This year, in addition to the Governors Award, Nevins is nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards: three nominations for The Alzheimer's Project including Grandpa Do You Know Who I Am?; as well as a nomination for Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery. Over the course of the 21 years that Nevins and her HBO documentary unit have been participating in the Primetime Emmy Awards, she has personally amassed 54 nominations and 22 wins, including 2008's White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for "Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking," Classical Baby for "Outstanding Children's Program," When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts for "Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking"; and Ghosts of Abu Ghraib for "Outstanding Nonfiction Special" in 2007, and many more.

HBO's Sheila Nevins to Receive
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Governors Award/2

During Nevins tenure, HBO's critically acclaimed documentaries have gone on to win 20 Academy Awards. As an executive producer or producer, she has received 22 Primetime Emmy® Awards, 25 News and Documentary Emmys® and 31 George Foster Peabody Awards, as well as a personal Peabody Award. In 2005, she was given the News and Documentary Emmy for Lifetime Achievement by the National Television Academy in New York, as well as another Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association. She was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2000.

Nevins began her career with the U.S. Information Service after attending Barnard and Yale. She has been a producer for ABC and CBS, a writer for Time-Life Films and has worked for the Children's Television Workshop. Since joining HBO, Nevins has supervised the production of more than 500 documentary programs. She was named executive vice president, original programming, for HBO and Cinemax in 1999 and in 2005, was named president, HBO Documentary Films for Home Box Office.This year's Governors Award Committee was co-chaired chaired by Hal Eisner, Television Academy Los Angeles Area Vice Chair and KCOP/KTTV reporter and Anne Damborg Pedersen, Vice President, Business Affairs at ABC, as well as Television Academy Governors and members Sharon Lieblein, Russell Calabrese, Nancy Thurston, Beth Bohn and Mark Watters.

Last year, National Geographic Channel's "Preserve Our Planet" received the Governors Award. Past recipients include "American Idol Gives Back"; HBO's "Addiction"; Jerry Lewis; Viacom, Inc.; Lifetime Network's "Stop the Violence Against Women" initiative; ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC for the 9/11 special "Supporting America: A Tribute to Heroes"; Walter Cronkite; Johnny Carson; Masterpiece Theatre; Lucille Ball; Bob Hope; Red Skelton; Ted Turner; Grant Tinker; CNN; Showtime's diversity programming; PBS; Alistair Cooke; and MTV's "Fight For Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence," among others.

For selections from Nevins' Archive of American Television interview, visit EmmyTVLegends.org. For more information on the Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards, go to Emmys.com.