The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is an organization composed of working journalists who cover the United States film industry for a variety of outlets, including newspapers and magazines in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Today, the 90 members of the HFPA represent at least 55 countries and have a combined readership of more than 250 million.[1] The organization is best known for its annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles every January.
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The association was founded in the early 1940s by a group of Los Angeles-based foreign journalists in an attempt to gain more clout with the studios and make it easier to obtain access to stars.[2]
The organization’s first awards presentation for distinguished achievements in the film industry took place in early 1944 with an informal ceremony at 20th Century Fox.[3] There, Jennifer Jones was awarded Best Actress honors for “The Song of Bernadette,” which also won for Best Film, while Paul Lukas took home Best Actor laurels for “Watch on the Rhine.” Awards were presented in the form of scrolls.[4]
The following year members came up with the idea of presenting winners with a golden globe encircled with a strip of motion picture film, and mounted on a pedestal.[5]
In 1950, differing philosophies among members created a schism within the organization, resulting in a split into two separate groups – The Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association and the Foreign Press Association of Hollywood. The separation ended in 1955 when the journalists reunited under the collective title “The Hollywood Foreign Press Association” with firm guidelines and requirements for membership.[6]
In 1955, the Golden Globes began honoring achievements in television as well as in film. The first honorees in the Best Television Show category that year were “Dinah Shore,” “Lucy & Desi,” “The American Comedy” and “Davy Crockett (TV miniseries).”[7]
Today, the Golden Globes recognize achievements in 25 categories: 14 in motion pictures, and 11 in television.[8]
Membership meetings are held monthly, and the officers and directors are elected annually. A maximum of five journalists are admitted to the organization each year. All members are accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America and must submit clippings of their work every year to justify their membership.[9]
Requirements for membership include residence in Southern California and a minimum of four published articles per year. The HFPA does not release a list of acceptable publications for those articles, but they are not restricted to popular, mainstream ones.[10]