The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series is an award presented annually by the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

(NATAS) and

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

(ATAS). It was first awarded at the

24th Primetime Emmy Awards The 24th Emmy Awards, later known as the 24th Primetime Emmy Awards, were handed out on May 6, 1972. The ceremony was hosted by Johnny Carson. Winners are listed in bold and series' networks are in parentheses. The top shows of the night were ' ...

ceremony, held in 1972, when the award was originally called Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama for two years. The

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

daytime-themed

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s were presented in 1974, when this award was renamed Outstanding Drama Series and given in honor of a

daytime drama A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

. The awards ceremony was not televised in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for lack of integrity. The Emmy was named after an "Immy", an affectionate term used to refer to the image orthicon camera tube. The statuette was designed by

Louis McManus Louis Manuel McManus (May 31, 1898 – April 17, 1968) was an American television engineer, film editor, and designer of the 1930s and 1940s. He is best known as the designer for the appearance of the Emmy award statuette and symbol for the Ac ...

, who modeled the award after his wife, Dorothy. The Emmy statuette is fifteen inches tall from base to tip. The statuette weighs 5 pounds and is composed of iron, pewter, zinc and gold. The award was first presented to '' The Doctors'', which first aired in 1963. ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'' holds the record for the most awards, winning on fifteen occasions. In 2007, ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' and ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'' tied, which was the first tie in this category. ''The Young and the Restless'' has also received the most nominations, with a total of thirty-three.

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

has been the most successful network, with a total of twenty-one wins. As of the 2022 ceremony, ''General Hospital'' is the most recent recipient of the award.

Winners and nominees

Listed below are the winners of the award for each year, as well as the other nominees.

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Total awards won

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daytime Emmy Award For Outstanding Drama Series Daytime Emmy Awards Awards established in 1972