Paley Center Launches New PaleyFest Award, Honoring Billy Crystal and Six TV Series
The Paley Center for Media has created a brand-new honour called the PaleyFest Award, timed to both the return of its annual PaleyFest NY festival and the institution's 50th anniversary. The inaugural class of winners includes actor Billy Crystal and six television series: American Horror Story, Dexter, Tulsa King, Marshals, The Diplomat, and The Gilded Age (Variety).
PaleyFest NY 2026 runs from 8 to 14 October at the Paley Museum in midtown Manhattan. The festival, named for William S. Paley — the founder of CBS and the Paley Center itself — is the East Coast counterpart to the long-running PaleyFest celebration held annually in Los Angeles. Its programme features conversations with cast and creators, offering behind-the-scenes scoops, untold stories, and anecdotes about television (Paley Center).
The PaleyFest Award will be handed out annually during the festival. For recipients, the recognition comes with something more lasting than a trophy: winners' work becomes a permanent part of the Paley Archive, the Center's collection preserving significant media and broadcasting material (Variety).
Maureen J. Reidy, the Paley Center's president and CEO, leads the institution during this milestone year. The Center's 50th anniversary provides the backdrop for the new award's creation — the honour was designed in tandem with the anniversary celebrations (Variety).
The first PaleyFest Award class spans a wide range of television. American Horror Story, the long-running anthology horror series from Ryan Murphy, and Dexter, the crime drama about a vigilante forensic technician, are both franchises with more than a decade of history. Tulsa King, a crime drama led by Sylvester Stallone, and The Gilded Age, Julian Fellowes's period drama about New York society in the 1880s, round out the scripted picks. Marshals and The Diplomat, the political drama starring Keri Russell, complete the group. Billy Crystal, the comedian and actor whose career spans film, television, and stage, receives individual recognition.
For fans, the October festival will be the first chance to see the new award presented in person. PaleyFest NY sessions typically bring cast members and showrunners on stage for unscripted conversation, meaning audiences may hear directly from the people behind the honoured series. The permanent archive placement also means that the selected titles will be preserved and accessible to researchers and the public through the Paley Center's holdings.
Separately, the Paley Center's The Paley Honors event is scheduled for 11 August 2026 at 6:00 pm, though details on that programme's honourees were not specified in the available announcement (Paley Center).
PaleyFest NY 2026 tickets and the full festival schedule are expected to be released ahead of the October dates.
