2020 wasn't just one of the most unusual and challenging years in recent human history; it was also a year filled with some of the most unusual (and incredible) soap opera moments fans of the genre have seen in their lifetimes. Whether it was using actors' real-life spouses (or mannequins) as stand-ins or dealing with emergency recast situations, the casts, crews, and writers from The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, Days of our Lives, and General Hospital gave everything they've got in order to keep viewers entertained during the turbulence of the pandemic.
As Soap Central previously reported, the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be broadcast in primetime on CBS on Friday, June 25, and will stream live on Paramount+ at the same time. Today, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the official nominees that will be competing in the upcoming telecast. (To skip straight to the list, click here.)
NATAS president and CEO Adam Sharp revealed that a record-breaking 3,000-plus submissions were made in the event's 100 categories honoring individuals and programs broadcast between 2AM and 6PM, as well as certain digital and syndicated programming.
"All three of our competitions this year posted their record highs," Sharp shared with Variety, referencing the Sports Emmys and News Emmys, in addition to the Daytime Emmys. "Each of our competitions had more entries this year than in any previous competition year."
Part of the increase in submissions in the Daytime Emmys event can be attributed to NATAS deciding this year to move all children's programming -- including the shows that had previously been eligible for Primetime Emmys -- into the daytime race. This change came in conjunction with several other submission changes that Soap Central previously reported, including a descending age scale for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series entrants and the continued elimination of the pre-nomination process (which did not take place in 2020, either).
The increased number of entries is evident in most of the Creative Arts technical categories. The categories for things like lighting, makeup, and costuming have been the exclusive domain of soaps for decades. Not this year, though, as those categories were dominated by Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, and other streaming services. The Young and the Restless was the only soap to be nominated for Outstanding Makeup, while Days of our Lives received the only soap nod for Costume Design. The four soaps combined for just ten of the 55 total Creative Arts nominations. By comparison, in 2020, General Hospital earned ten technical nominations on its own.
Another recently revealed change is the process in which nominees are determined. NATAS has established the introduction of standards for a minimum viability for a nomination. This means that there could be fewer nominees in some categories than the (mostly) standard five that fans have seen in previous years.
"Under our old system, if you were one of the top five scorers, you were nominated even if you had a really low score," Sharp explains to EW. "Under the new model, you won't be nominated if you have a low score. So, you will see that some of the categories will have fewer nominees than before." (*Editor's Note: The winners are the ones who earn the highest score in their category. That means that the Daytime Emmy accountants already know the winners that will be announced next month!)
This new standard was apparent in the Outstanding Writing Team category, where Days of our Lives was the only soap not to be nominated. All four soaps received nods for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Directing Team.
In a break from tradition and, perhaps, to add a soapy sense of drama, NATAS announced the nominees in the Lead Actress category last night.
So, without further ado, here are the nominees for the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in the major categories. To review all of the nominations, including the Creative Arts and Technical categories, click here.
What do you think about this year's official Daytime Emmy nominations? Which nominees are you most excited to see on the list? Do you feel like anyone was snubbed? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
