GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series is an annual award that honors miniseries and anthology series for excellence in the treatment of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters and themes. It is one of several categories of the annual GLAAD Media Awards, which are presented by GLAAD—an American non-governmental media monitoring organization—at ceremonies held primarily in New York City and Los Angeles between March and May.^[1]

GLAAD recognized the ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place at the 1st GLAAD Media Awards in 1990. In 1994, Fox's Doing Time on Maple Drive became the first television film to be recognized by GLAAD, in the Outstanding TV Movies category. Following this, various television films and miniseries would be recognized as separate categories.^[2] By the 14th GLAAD Media Awards, in 2003, GLAAD merged the two categories into one named Outstanding Television Film, with HBO's film The Laramie Project winning.^[3] At the 19th GLAAD Media Awards in 2008, the category was expanded to also include anthology series, with Here's The DL Chronicles winning.^[4] The award remained as such until the 31st GLAAD Media Awards in 2020, where it was separated into two distinct categories: one for television films, the other for limited or anthology series.^[5] Further changes took place in 2023 during the 34th GLAAD Media Awards, where television films became part of the Outstanding Film – Streaming or TV category.^[6] Despite these reorganizations, GLAAD considers the television films recognized from 2020 to 2022 as part of this award category.^[7]

For a limited or anthology series to be eligible, it must include at least one LGBT character in a leading, supporting, or recurring capacity.^[8] The award may be accepted by any of the series' producers, writers, or actors.^[8] Limited and anthology series selected by GLAAD are evaluated based on four criteria: "Fair, Accurate, and Inclusive Representations" of the LGBT community, "Boldness and Originality" of the project, significant "Impact" on mainstream culture, and "Overall Quality" of the project.^[9] GLAAD monitors mainstream media to identify which series will be nominated, while also issuing a Call for Entries that encourages media outlets to submit programmes for consideration. By contrast, in order for series created by and for LGBT audiences to be considered for nomination, they must be submitted after the Call for Entries.^[9] Winners are determined by a plurality vote by GLAAD staff and its board, Shareholders Circle members,^[a] volunteers and affiliated individuals.^[9]

Since its inception, the award has been given to 37 works. The only anthology series to have received multiple nominations are FX's American Horror Story and HBO's The White Lotus, both of which have only won once. American Horror Story won for its second season—subtitled Asylum—in 2013, while The White Lotus won for its second season at the 34th GLAAD Media Awards in 2023.