6/12/2008

in

Katherine Heigl won't be in the running for an Emmy this year because she chose not to be.

Marshall Burns

Katherine Heigl, of the hit TV drama, *Grey's Anatomy*, has bowed out of the race for an Emmy after surprisingly winning one last year for her role in the series, reported Reuters. The move is apparently a swipe at the producers because of her lack of presence recently in the series.  
  
The 29-year-old actress chose to not submit her name for consideration and only explained her lack of a ballot when asked by Tom O'Neil, a columnist for the *Los Angeles Times*' Web site, TheEnvelope.com. "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination, and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention," she told O'Neil in a statement, according to Reuters.  
  
The nominations for the Emmys will be announced on July 17. Since Heigl's nomination last year, beating out two of her costars, she has had a noticeably reduced profile on the show, reported Reuters.  
  
O'Neil told Reuters, "What she deserved after winning the Emmy was a heightened profile on the show, not a reduced one," adding that she appeared to be "logging an internal protest" with the show's producers. After her big-screen role in *27 Dresses* that was released in January, she is to be in a film adaptation of *Escape*, a best-selling memoir of Carolyn Jessop, whose testimony helped convict polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, reported Reuters.