The fourth annual Children's & Family Emmy Awards took place on March 2, 2026, at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City, where the Walt Disney Company secured 22 wins across its brands. Singer-songwriter Regina Spektor opened the ceremony with a piano performance of "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, hosted by actor and puppeteer John Tartaglia. Notable individual winners included Joe Locke for his role in Heartstopper and John Lithgow for Spellbound.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented the awards, recognizing excellence in children's and family programming. Stars such as Amber Riley, Rachel Accurso (known as Ms. Rachel), Monique Coleman, and Bill Nye served as presenters. Bill Nye also received the Lifetime Achievement Award, stating, "I put my heart and soul into that thing, and all the things I do, and I've been a member of the national academy since I guess 1985. So, this is very nice. It's amazing, wonderful."
Disney's dominance was evident, with 21 awards from Disney+ content. Descendants: The Rise of Red and Win or Lose each won five awards, tying for the most. Descendants: The Rise of Red took outstanding fiction special, art direction/set decoration/scenic design, hairstyling and makeup, original song for a children's or young teen program ("Red Christmas"), and choreography. Win or Lose earned wins for outstanding children's or young teen animated series, writing ("Pickle"), directing ("Home"), editing ("Mixed Signals"), and individual achievement in animation (storyboard artist Esteban Bravo).
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, the most-nominated program, won outstanding young teen series, along with editing ("The Real Good Guys"), sound mixing and editing ("You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates"), and visual effects. Other Disney wins included A Real Bug's Life for outstanding informational program and editing ("Love in the Forest"), and Rise Up, Sing Out for original song ("Grow Your World").
Beyond Disney, Netflix programs shone: Heartstopper won outstanding writing for a young teen series ("Journey"), with Joe Locke winning outstanding lead performer as Charlie Spring. John Lithgow won outstanding single role voice performer as Bolinar in Spellbound. Sweet Tooth secured supporting performer (Nonso Anozie as Tommy Jepperd) and younger performer (Christian Convery as Gus). Sesame Street won outstanding preschool, children's or family viewing series and puppetry performer (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph as Abby Cadabby & Tango).
Music categories went to Secrets at Red Rocks (BYUtv) for live action composition ("Open Your Mind a Little") and WondLa (Apple TV+) for animated ("Heart"). The Tiny Chef Show (Nickelodeon) won outstanding preschool animated series and directing ("Tiny Chef’s Spooky Stump Spectacular"). Ultraman: Rising (Netflix) won outstanding animated special and sound mixing/editing. Andrew Garfield won outstanding short form live action program for "Andrew Garfield and Elmo Explain Grief" on Sesame Workshop's YouTube channel. Tabitha Brown won outstanding children's personality for Tab Time.
