<Tr> <Th> Currently held by </Th> <Td> The Handmaid's Tale (2017) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> emmys.com </Td> </Tr> <P> This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, since its institution in 1951 . The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys ceremonies, and has changed names many times in its history . It was first called Best Dramatic Show from 1951 to 1954, then Best Dramatic Series in 1955 and 1956 . In 1957, no specific award for drama was given, but in 1958 the category was split into two separate categories, Best Dramatic Anthology Series, and Best Dramatic Series with Continuing Characters with a winner selected from each category . The following year, the category was differently split into two separate categories, Best Dramatic Series--Less Than One Hour . In 1960, the name was changed yet again to Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama; this name was kept from 1960 to 1964 . In 1966, it had its sixth name change to Outstanding Dramatic Series or Outstanding Series - Drama; this was used from 1966 until recently, when it became Outstanding Drama Series . </P> <P> In 1988, Rumpole of the Bailey (PBS) was initially nominated in the Outstanding Miniseries category but the Academy ruled that the nomination was not valid a few days later and later allowed the program to compete in the Outstanding Drama Series category . </P>

Last 10 emmy awards for outstanding drama series