Variety has announced that Ryan Murphy will receive the third annual Norman Lear Award at its Showrunners Breakfast event, recognising a body of work that reflects Lear's legacy of creativity, visionary storytelling and social impact. The award, presented to a leading television figure each year, highlights Murphy's more than two decades of genre-spanning, socially engaged storytelling, echoing the values embodied by the late producer Norman Lear.

The Showrunners Breakfast will take place on 14 August and will include two spotlight conversations with Emmy-nominated showrunners, alongside the award presentation. Previous recipients of the honour include Chuck Lorre and David E. Kelley, while Lear himself was the inaugural winner in 2019 under the award's earlier name, the Creative Conscience Award. Guests will be drawn from Variety's 2026 Showrunners Impact List, with further participants for the spotlight conversations to be announced.