The 2026 Critics Choice Awards will air live on E! and USA Network on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 – one week before the Golden Globes air on CBS.
“The Critics Choice Association [CCA] is excited to kick off awards season as the first major televised show of 2026,” CCA CEO Joey Berlin said in a statement.
Returning to E! for the second year in a row, the telecast will also air on USA Network. The three-hour show will air live on the East Coast from 7:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT (tape-delayed on the West Coast). The show will once again be held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif.
The Critics Choice Awards honor the best in both film and TV. TV nominations will be announced on Thursday, Dec. 4, with film nominations set to be announced the next day on Friday, Dec. 5.
The 31st annual Critics Choice Awards show will be executive-produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment.
The 30th Critics’ Choice Awards were presented on Feb. 7, 2025. The show was originally set for Jan. 12, but was postponed twice due to the horrific wildfires in the Los Angeles area that began on Jan. 7. Chelsea Handler hosted the 2025 show for the third consecutive year. No announcement has been made about who will host the 2026 show.
Conclave and Wicked led the film nominations for the 2025 show with 11 nods each. Anora had just seven nods – which didn’t even make it one of the top five most-nominated films – but it wound up winning best picture. It went on to dominate the awards season, including winning the Oscar for best picture.
