LOS ANGELES: In honor of one of television's brilliant pioneers, Natpe - a global non-profit organisation - has unveiled The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards to recognize excellence in the creation of television programming.
This announcement was made by Rick Feldman, president and CEO of Natpe last week.
Natpe is an organisation dedicated to the creation, development and distribution of televised programming.
A Natpe release states that the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards will be formally presented at a reception on 19 January 2004, at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas during an annual conference and exhibition.
The awards will celebrate a select group of television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming, the release says. 
The awards will be held in association with the Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and Variety magazines. Award winners will be selected by Natpe's executive committee, out of the nominations received by Natpe members and executive editorial staff of the magazines.
Natpe has announced that nominations for the awards must be submitted at www.natpe.org before 30 October 2003.
Lilly Tartikoff wife of the late TV star Brandon Tartikoff, was quoted in the company release as saying, "Brandon loved the television business, particularly people and programmes that embodied the high level of creativity he strived for throughout his career. He viewed the television programme as an open canvas upon which you could marry wonderful stories with beautiful images. Brandon would've been so honored to have his name and contributions to the industry recognized by Natpe through these special awards."
Tartikoff was responsible for programming some of television's most powerful and successful shows like NBC's Hill Street Blues, Cheers, L.A. Law, The Cosby Show and Seinfeld among others. In addition to serving as chairman of Paramount Pictures, he also ran New World Communications, a major television station group owner, and production and distribution company.