Sports Emmy Awards 2015: Highlights, Full List of Winners – Bleacher Report

The 2015 Sports Emmy Awards were presented on Tuesday, consisting of 40 different categories and many deserving recipients of accolades to recognize their excellence in sports media.

Check out the complete list of award recipients below, followed by a closer look at some of the most notable awards:

Among the highlights and 36th annual winners of the evening, one particular gesture stole the show.

Turner Sports’ Ernie Johnson was named best studio host, but instead of taking the award all for his own, he passed it on to the two daughters of late ESPN personality Stuart Scott.

Mike Soltys of ESPN captured the touching moment:

Ernie Johnson, in an all time class move, gives his Emmy to Stuart Scott’s daughters pic.twitter.com/xZbs37Rseo

— Mike Soltys (@espnmikes) May 6, 2015

ESPN’s Michael Wilbon praised Johnson for what he did:

Already knew that Ernie Johnson is a wonderful guy, but giving his Emmy to Stuart Scott’s daughters takes a special brand of humanity…

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) May 6, 2015

Bleacher Report anchor Adam Lefkoe hosted the awards and posed for a photo with Johnson:

@TurnerSportsEJ and @AdamLefkoe at The 36th Annual Sports Emmys Awards #SportsEmmys pic.twitter.com/OUAEZSYO30

— Sports Emmys (@sportsemmys) May 6, 2015

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand appreciated how some of the usually lesser-recognized people working in the industry were recognized for their extraordinary work:

It’s easy to poke fun of the Sports Emmy awards. But they do honor a lot of behind-the-scenes TV people, which I like.

— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) May 6, 2015

Former MLB player and Fox analyst Harold Reynolds was named best studio analyst. Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated highlighted the list of quality candidates Reynolds beat out to win the prestigious distinction:

The candidates Harold Reynolds beat out tonight for his studio analyst Sports Emmy: Charles Barkley, Rick Neuheisel and Tom Verducci.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) May 6, 2015

Fox Sports enjoyed more success in Major League Baseball when Ken Rosenthal took home a deserved award of his own, per Paul Severino of MLB Network:

I’d say that winning the #SportsEmmy for Outstanding Sports Reporter would allow @Ken_Rosenthal to get some sleep, but he refuses. Congrats!

— Paul Severino (@SeverinoMLB) May 5, 2015

NBC Sports PR previously alluded to how the network’s coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was heavily recognized:

NBCU coverage of 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics earns 15 Sports Emmy Nominations – Most of Any Program

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) March 24, 2015

And there were numerous other outstanding individuals and teams who achieved a great deal and were commended for their efforts with an evening in the spotlight Tuesday.

The world of sports media keeps evolving. Technological innovations and cutting-edge content promise to continue pushing the boundaries of ways to present engaging sports stories, adapting adequately to the increasing demand of the modern digital world.

But at the epicenter of that are people behind the scenes, grinding away and driving that progress in an exciting, unprecedented era of media. The Sports Emmy Awards once again came through to highlight those who have worked to deliver prompt, accurate, informative and exciting content in such a fast-paced, high-demand era of the sports industry.