Stephanie Edwards to Receive Los Angeles Area Governors Award

Los Angeles icon and Emmy Award-winning television host Stephanie Edwards has been selected as the 2015-2016 Los Angeles Area Governors Award recipient. The announcement was made today on the KTLA Morning News by Television Academy Chairman and CEO Bruce Rosenblum.

Watch Bruce Rosenblum surprise Stephanie Edwards live on the air at KTLA.

Awarded for outstanding achievement in the arts, sciences, or management of television over a period of years, or in recognition of an outstanding singular achievement, the Los Angeles Governors Award is the most esteemed local accolade given by the Los Angeles Area Governors Award Committee and the Television Academy.

Multiple Emmy-winner Edwards, one of the first pioneering newswomen to sit in an anchor chair, is a prolific actress and a veteran co-anchor of the Tournament of Roses Parade for KTLA. She will be presented with the prestigious honor at the Los Angeles Area Emmys on Saturday, July 23 at the Wolf Theatre in the recently opened Saban Media Center, the centerpiece of the Television Academy's reimagined North Hollywood Campus.

"Stephanie is a television trailblazer with an impressive body of work spanning more than four decades," said Rosenblum. "She is well known in the industry for her professionalism and commitment to her craft and is beloved and admired by her colleagues for her grace under pressure. Every New Year has started with Stephanie's smile and charm on KTLA's Rose Parade coverage. We are honored to present her with the Governors Award for her lifetime of exemplary television broadcasting."

Arriving in California from Minnesota at the age of 21 with dreams of becoming an actress, Edwards immediately landed a job on Ralph Story Los Angeles, a local news magazine program on KNXT-TV, which changed the trajectory of her life and career. Along with Story, she went on to co-host the West Coast news and talk program AM Los Angeles on KABC-TV.

In 1975, Edwards was cast as the first female host of ABC-TV's AM America alongside Bill Beutel, a program that would become Good Morning America. In the years that followed, she continued working with GMA, often sitting in for host Joan Lunden. Her storied career as a TV host continued with programs including Leave it to the Women, Live with Sam and Stephanie with Sam Rubin and Everyday, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk Series or Variety Series.

Edwards may be best known as the legendary co-host of the long-running Tournament of Roses Parade on KTLA-TV, broadcast across the country and to more than 220 markets around the world every New Year's Day. She began her 35-year tenure on the award-winning telecast in 1978 with co-host Bob Eubanks and quickly became an American treasure, known for her warmth, wit and candor. In January 2016 she retired from television after hosting her final parade broadcast, but her work will always remain part of the fabric of Southern California journalism.

The Los Angeles Area Governors Award has been bestowed upon individuals, companies and organizations that have made a positive impact in the Los Angeles community. Past recipients include Pat Harvey, Christine Devine, Bill Stout, Hal Fishman, Johnny Grant, KCET, Ted Meyers, Bill Welch, Vin Scully, Jerry Dunphy, Larry McCormick, George Putnam, Gene Autry, KTLA, KMEX, Jess Marlow, Kelly Lange, Joel Tator, Chick Hearn, Pete Noyes, Dr. George Fischbeck, KMEX Univision, Bob Eubanks, Stan Freberg, Telemundo's KVEA, Steve Edwards and Susan Stratton.

For more information about the Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, please visit Emmys.com/LA.