2026 Los Angeles Emmy winners: PBS SoCal leads with eight prizes
PBS SoCal topped the 2026 Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, while KVEA and KABC split the major daily newscast honors.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The 2026 Los Angeles Emmy winners gave PBS SoCal the night’s biggest haul, with KOCE and KCET taking eight awards Saturday, according to Variety’s report on the Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards.
Univision’s KMEX followed with seven wins, while Telemundo’s KVEA collected six. KABC/ABC7 and KNBC/NBC4 each finished with four, Variety reported.
The ceremony was held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and hosted by KABC entertainment reporter George Pennacchio. Bob Bain and Bob Bain Productions produced the event, with Greg Taylor and Brian DeCloux serving as Los Angeles Area Governors, according to Variety.
Who won the 2026 Los Angeles Area Emmys?
PBS SoCal led all outlets with wins across categories including live events programming, entertainment, crime and social issues, arts, education and information, music composition, information segment and short promo programming.
Among its winning entries were “For Dear Life: Art, Medicine & Disability (PST ART),” “Aging in America: Survive or Thrive,” “Aretha! with Sheléa and the Pacific Symphony,” “Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema (PST ART),” “Art & Science Collide,” “Combating Climate Change with Trees (Earth Focus),” the “66th Annual LA County Holiday Celebration” and “Climate & Environment (PBS SoCal).”
KMEX’s wins included “Somos de Aquí” in culture and history, “Tu Voz LA” for informational series with more than half remote production, and “Al Punto California” for informational series with more than half studio production. The Univision outlet also won for feature segment, crime and social issues news story, art, cultural or historical news story, and health or science news story.
KVEA took two of the three daily newscast station awards. “Noticiero Telemundo 52 Al Mediodía” won the daytime newscast category, and “Noticiero Telemundo 52 A las 11pm” won evening newscast. Variety reported that KVEA won all three daily newscast Emmys last year.
KABC/ABC7 broke through in the morning newscast race this year, winning for “Eyewitness News at 6am.” ABC7 also won live special events news for “ABC7 Presents the 40th Annual Kingdom Day Parade,” live coverage of an unscheduled news event for “Breaking News: SoCal Firestorms,” and investigative news story for “SoCal Firestorms 6 months later: Palisades Fire Investigation.”
What is the Los Angeles Area Emmy Governors Award?
The Governors Award is a special Los Angeles Area Emmy honor recognizing a career or contribution rather than a regular competitive category. This year’s award went to KABC’s David Ono for more than three decades in broadcasting and his work in in-depth storytelling, Variety reported.
Ono’s KABC co-anchor Jovana Lara presented him with the honor at the ceremony.
The 2026 eligibility window covered work from the 2025 calendar year. Variety reported that many news-category winners centered on the devastating January wildfires that hit the region.
Other winning outlets included Spectrum News 1 and Spectrum SportsNet, with two wins apiece. LA36, Spectrum SportsNet LA and USC Football each earned one award.
Nomination totals going into the night were led by PBS SoCal with 29. KABC/ABC7 had 21 nominations, KMEX had 20, KVEA had 18, KNBC/NBC4 had 15 and Spectrum News 1 had 10, according to Variety.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.