The 2026 Critics Alternative Awards have discovered their date, and now will likely be main off awards season’s nationally televised exhibits.
The Critics Alternative Affiliation stated Friday that its thirty first annual Critics Alternative Awards will happen on Sunday, January 4, 2026. Returning to E! for a second yr in a row, the telecast will even air stay throughout USA Community from 7-10 p.m. ET/PT. The present will as soon as once more be held on the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and can proceed its mixed movie and tv awards format, honoring the yr’s greatest in cinematic, televised, and streaming achievement.
Earlier this week, the Golden Globes stated it could be transferring to the second Sunday in January, on the eleventh, a little bit of a shock because it has historically gone on the primary weekend of the brand new yr. Sources say Critics Alternative organizers had been planning for his or her ceremony to happen January 11 however now will likely be within the place of kicking off the nationally televised awards a part of the season on the sooner date.
(L-R) ‘Anora’s Vache Tovmasyan, Alex Coco, Sean Baker, Mikey Madison and Samantha Quan onstage on the Critics Alternative Awards
Kevin Winter/Getty Photographs for Critics Alternative Affiliation
“The Critics Alternative Affiliation is happy to kick off awards season as the primary main televised present of 2026,” CCA CEO Joey Berlin stated in a press launch right this moment. “In our expanded partnership with E! and USA Community, we’re joined once more in our shared mission to uplift the artistic neighborhood and their unbelievable work – whereas additionally deepening our relationship with stay occasions audiences and awards devotees alike. Collectively, we’re proud to proceed making the Critics Alternative Awards a can’t-miss awards season vacation spot, delivering unforgettable speeches and momentum-building moments championing our trade’s greatest. CCA is happy to construct upon our three-decades of expertise driving the awards dialog and, this yr, take the lead with our present on January 4.”
“We’re honored to collaborate with the Critics Alternative Affiliation and convey this prestigious occasion to our audiences throughout E! and USA Community,” stated Val Boreland, President, Leisure, “SpinCo.” “As this distinguished ceremony continues to be one of the crucial anticipated nights of awards season, we are able to’t wait to kick off awards season with CCA in celebrating Hollywood’s greatest moments of the yr.”
This yr’s present, which happened later than typical because of postponements due to the Los Angeles fires, noticed the Critics Alternative change into the primary main group to call eventual Greatest Image Oscar winner Anora its Greatest Image, intently adopted by the PGA and DGA, all taking place the weekend earlier than Oscar voting commenced.
For the 2026 date, the CCAs will happen a full week earlier than Oscar nomination voting begins January 12. The CCAs have typically correlated with wins that later additionally went on to take key Oscars.
The primary weekend of the brand new yr is shaping as much as be an enormous one for awards season because the Palm Springs Movie Pageant stated this week it plans to carry its annual Awards Gala on Saturday, January 3, a day earlier than Critics Alternative. These awards historically draw a bevy of Oscar contenders as properly.
For the Critics Alternative Awards, TV nominations will likely be introduced December 4, and movie nominations December 5.
The thirty first annual Critics Alternative Awards present will likely be govt produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Leisure. The awards are represented by Dan Black at Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
