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Golden Globe Awards: A Brief History

Maybe it’s just the endless awards show coverage in the news this time of year, but it seems like there’s a trophy handed out for everything from best film to best performance by a houseplant.

You’ve got your AMAs, your CMAs, your BMAs, your AFIs and your SAGs. Let’s not forget the VH1 Fashion Awards, the Essence Awards and the all-important Teen Choice Awards.

A few of these shows, however, carry a bit more cachet than the majority of what Variety calls “kudocasts.” The Golden Globes are close behind the Oscars in prestige, and they’ve long been considered a strong indicator of which way the wind is blowing over at the Academy.

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The Globe Awards are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an 82-member group of foreign journalists who cover the film and television industries in Los Angeles. Established in 1943, the association was formed by a handful of foreign journalists struggling to send reports to their home countries, where people craved the distraction the movies provided during wartime.

Because Hollywood didn’t take these reporters seriously, the group banded together, trading information and contacts. Over the years the group’s official standing in the industry grew, and today its members are required to have at least 10 articles published per year, to provide financial proof that they are working journalists, and to have lived in the U.S. for at least two years.

Always on the lookout for the next breakout international star, the HFPA presented its first Golden Globe awards in 1944, partly to increase its legitimacy and standing in the entertainment industry. Since then the ceremony has expanded to honor TV as well as movies, and unlike the Oscars the organization even gives awards for comedy.

Compared to the Academy’s nearly 5,500, the HFPA’s 82 members are a pretty easy mark for publicity-minded studios hoping to hype their movies and stars, and over the years the association has been accused of catering to studios in a “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” style.

And that long-running Hollywood joke that the HFPA has never met a publicist it didn’t like may have a grain of truth to it, given some blatant instances of favoritism. Pia Zadora received the “Newcomer of the Year” award back in 1982 after her husband threw a party for HFPA members, and Sharon Stone, who sent handwritten notes to every member, received the Best Actress award in 1995 for Casino. Every year Globe voters receive lavish gifts and are treated to special perks, none of which the studios find unusual.

Nevertheless, PR and presents aside, the Globes have evolved into the second most important Awards show of the year (of the six top categories last year, the Globes matched the Academy Awards on three of them), and everyone hoping to win the office Oscar pool turns to them for picks come March.

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