Star Trek has been given the Heritage Award by the Television Critics’ Association, the organization representing more than 200 professional journalists covering TV for the USA and Canada.

The Heritage Award, which is a special award given out as part of the Annual TCA Awards, honors iconic contributions to television. The TCA made the announcement on Twitter yesterday, as part of a lengthy thread announcing all the winners. In their tweet, they said, “Our Heritage Award winner honestly needs no introduction, but let's try anyway. It's perhaps the most significant sci-fi series in American TV history, and it spawned a massive, sprawling franchise that continues to this day. But everything goes back to the original Star Trek.”

Series creator Gene Roddenberry’s son, Rod, modern Star Trek executive producer and head of Roddenberry Entertainment, accepted the award on his father’s behalf, and StarTrek.com shared the video. In it, Roddenberry said, “My father [...] started the franchise over 50 years ago. He did it with a vision of hope and optimistic view of what humanity could become, told through the lens of science fiction. It’s an honor to be a part of its lasting legacy that has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon, addressing many of the social and political issues, which address our society.”

The TCA also gave out awards for a number of categories, for which Variety had a nice run-down. HBO was the big winner overall, with 6 awards including four for Watchmen alone. Variety said, “The winners of the 2020 TCA Awards were determined by votes cast by the members of the organization [...] The TCA Awards are one of few organizations that do not separate nominees along gender lines.”