The Creative Arts Emmys were held over the weekend, and while there were a number of surprises, there were also some richly deserved tributes. To wit: The late Anthony Bourdain, along with his CNN show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, picked up six Emmy awards.
Variety reports the series won the Emmy in five of the six categories for which it was nominated, including picture editing for a non-fiction program, sound editing for a non-fiction program, and sound mixing for a non-fiction program. Along with those three, Bourdain himself posthumously won two awards, for best informational series or special and writing for non-fiction program. In addition to those wins, Bourdain picked up an additional Emmy in the category of best non-fiction short or reality for the webseries Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown. The writer and host had previously won four Emmys, most recently claiming the best informational series or special in 2016.
Bourdain’s coworkers paid tribute to him throughout the night. Explore Parts Unknown exec producer Nathan Thornburgh credited the outpouring of public support with helping many of them through a difficult time: “The one thing about this loss is it’s not ours alone, like everybody knew that guy. Everybody had a selfie with him, but more importantly I think everyone felt like he had spoken to them over the years and that’s helped a lot, to feel like we’re not alone.” Additional, his producer Lydia Tenaglia, who accepted the non-fiction writing Emmy on his behalf, referenced his eight previous nominations for writing, saying, “Tony was nominated for this Emmy many times, but it had always eluded him. So it is with tremendous bittersweetness that I accept it on his behalf.”