Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series

The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It was first awarded at the 24th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1972, when the award was originally called Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Drama for two years.^[1][2]

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
Current: 50th Daytime Emmy Awards
Awarded for	Outstanding Drama Series
Country	United States
Presented by	NATAS ATAS
First award	1972
Currently held by	General Hospital (2024)
Most awards	General Hospital (17)
Most nominations	The Young and the Restless (34)
Website	emmyonline.org/daytime

The first daytime-themed Emmy Awards were presented in 1974, when this award was renamed Outstanding Drama Series and given in honor of a daytime drama.^[2] The awards ceremony was not televised in 1983 and 1984, having been criticized for lack of integrity.^[3][4]

The award was first presented to The Doctors, which first aired in 1963. General Hospital holds the record for the most awards, winning on seventeen occasions. In 2007, Guiding Light and The Young and the Restless 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 has been the most successful network, with a total of twenty-one wins.

As of the 2024 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.

Table key

‡	Indicates the winner

1970s

Year	Program	Network	Ref
1972 (24th)	The Doctors‡	NBC	[1]
	All My Children	ABC
	Another World	NBC
	General Hospital	ABC
1973 (25th)	The Edge of Night‡	CBS	[5]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	One Life to Live	ABC
	The Doctors	NBC
1974 (1st)	The Doctors‡	NBC	[6]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	General Hospital	ABC
1975 (2nd)	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS	[7]
	Another World	NBC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
1976 (3rd)	Another World‡	NBC	[8]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1977 (4th)	Ryan's Hope‡	ABC	[9]
	All My Children	ABC
	Another World	NBC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Edge of Night	ABC
1978 (5th)	Days of Our Lives‡	NBC	[10]
	All My Children	ABC
	Ryan's Hope	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1979 (6th)	Ryan's Hope‡	ABC	[11]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS

1980s

Year	Program	Network	Ref
1980 (7th)	Guiding Light‡	CBS	[12]
	All My Children	ABC
	Another World	NBC
1981 (8th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[13]
	All My Children	ABC
	Ryan's Hope	ABC
1982 (9th)	Guiding Light‡	CBS	[14]
	All My Children	ABC	[15]
	General Hospital	ABC
	Ryan's Hope	ABC
1983 (10th)	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS	[16]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	General Hospital	ABC
	One Life to Live	ABC
1984 (11th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[17]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
1985 (12th)	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS	[18]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	General Hospital	ABC
	Guiding Light	CBS
1986 (13th)	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS	[19]
	All My Children	ABC
	As the World Turns	CBS
	General Hospital	ABC
1987 (14th)	As the World Turns‡	CBS	[20]
	All My Children	ABC
	Santa Barbara	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1988 (15th)	Santa Barbara‡	NBC	[21]
	All My Children	ABC
	As the World Turns	CBS
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1989 (16th)	Santa Barbara‡	NBC	[22]
	All My Children	ABC
	As the World Turns	CBS
	General Hospital	ABC
	Guiding Light	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS

1990s

Year	Program	Network	Ref
1990 (17th)	Santa Barbara‡	NBC	[23]
	All My Children	ABC
	Guiding Light	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1991 (18th)	As the World Turns‡	CBS	[24]
	All My Children	ABC
	Guiding Light	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1992 (19th)	All My Children‡	ABC	[25]
	As the World Turns	CBS
	Guiding Light	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1993 (20th)	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS	[26]
	All My Children	ABC
	As the World Turns	CBS
	Guiding Light	CBS
1994 (21st)	All My Children‡	ABC	[27]
	As the World Turns	CBS
	Guiding Light	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1995 (22nd)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[28]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1996 (26th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[29]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1997 (27th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[30]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1998 (27th)	All My Children‡	ABC	[31]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC	[32]
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
1999 (26th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[33]
	All My Children	ABC
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS

2000s

Year	Program	Network	Ref
2000 (27th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[34]
	All My Children	ABC
	One Life to Live	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2001 (28th)	As the World Turns‡	CBS	[35]
	All My Children	ABC
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2002 (29th)	One Life to Live‡	ABC	[36]
	All My Children	ABC
	As the World Turns	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2003 (30th)	As the World Turns‡	CBS	[37]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	Port Charles	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2004 (31st)	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS	[38]
	As the World Turns	CBS	[39]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	General Hospital	ABC
	Guiding Light	CBS
2005 (32nd)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[40]
	All My Children	ABC
	As the World Turns	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2006 (33rd)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[41]
	As the World Turns	CBS	[42]
	Guiding Light	CBS
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2007 (34th)	Guiding Light‡	CBS	[43]
	The Young and the Restless‡	CBS
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	One Life to Live	ABC
2008 (35th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[44]
	Guiding Light	CBS	[45]
	One Life to Live	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2009 (36th)	The Bold and the Beautiful‡	CBS	[46]
	All My Children	ABC	[47]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC

2010s

Year	Program	Network	Ref
2010 (37th)	The Bold and the Beautiful‡	CBS	[48]
	All My Children	ABC	[49]
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2011 (38th)	The Bold and the Beautiful‡	CBS	[50]
	All My Children	ABC	[51]
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2012 (39th)	General Hospital‡	ABC	[52]
	All My Children	ABC	[53]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2013 (40th)	Days of Our Lives‡	NBC	[54]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS	[55]
	General Hospital	ABC
	One Life to Live	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2014 (41st)	The Young and the Restless‡[a]	CBS	[56]
	The Bold and the Beautiful[b]	CBS	[57]
	Days of Our Lives[c]	NBC
	One Life to Live[d]	TOLN.com
2015 (42nd)
	Days of Our Lives[e]‡	NBC	[58]
	The Young and the Restless[f]‡	CBS
	The Bold and the Beautiful[g]	CBS	[59]
	General Hospital[h]	ABC
2016 (43rd)	General Hospital ‡	ABC	[60]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS	[61]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2017 (44th)	General Hospital ‡	ABC	[62]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2018 (45th)	Days of Our Lives ‡	NBC	[63]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2019 (46th)	The Young and the Restless ‡	CBS	[64]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	General Hospital	ABC

2020s

Year	Program	Network	Ref
2020 (47th)	The Young and the Restless ‡	CBS	[65]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS	[66]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	General Hospital	ABC
2021 (48th)	General Hospital ‡	ABC	[67]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS	[68]
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2022 (49th)
	General Hospital ‡	ABC	[69]
	Beyond Salem	Peacock	[70]
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	Days of Our Lives	NBC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2023 (50th)
	General Hospital ‡	ABC	[71]
	The Bay	Popstar! TV
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	Days of Our Lives	NBC/Peacock
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2024 (51st)
	General Hospital ‡	ABC	[72]
	The Bay	Popstar! TV
	The Bold and the Beautiful	CBS
	Days of Our Lives	Peacock
	Neighbours	Amazon Freevee
	The Young and the Restless	CBS
2025 (52nd)	*Winner will be announced on October 17, 2025		[73]
	Days of Our Lives	Peacock
	General Hospital	ABC
	The Young and the Restless	CBS

Series with multiple wins

17 wins

• General Hospital

11 wins

• The Young and the Restless

4 wins

• As the World Turns
• Days of our Lives

3 wins

• All My Children
• The Bold and the Beautiful
• Guiding Light
• Santa Barbara

2 wins

• The Doctors
• Ryan's Hope

Notes

1. Executive Producer: Jill Farren Phelps, Supervising Producers: John Fisher, Tony Morina, Producer: Mary O’Leary
2. Executive Producer: Bradley Bell, Supervising Producers: Rhonda Friedman, Edward Scott, Coordinating Producer: Mark Pinciotti, Producers: Colleen Bell, Cynthia J. Popp, Casey Kasprzyk
3. Executive Producer: Ken Corday, Co-Executive Producers: Lisa DeCazotte, Greg Meng Senior Coordinating Producers: Janet Spellman-Drucker, Tim Stevens, Coordinating Producer: Randy Dugan, Producer: Albert Alarr
4. Executive Producers: Rich Frank, Jeff Kwatinetz, Jennifer Pepperman, Supervising Producer: Catherine Maher-Smith, Coordinating Producers: Vivian Gundaker, Jennifer Salamone, Line Producer: Chris Savage
5. Executive Producer: Ken Corday, Senior Coordinating Producer: Janet Spellman-Drucker, Co-Executive Producers: Lisa DeCazotte, Greg Meng, Coordinating Producer: Randy Dugan, Producer: Albert Alarr
6. Executive Producer: Jill Farren Phelps, Supervising Producers: John Fisher, Tony Morina, Coordinating Producer: Mary O'Leary, Producer: Mary O’Leary
7. Executive Producer: Bradley Bell, Supervising Producers: Rhonda Friedman, Edward Scott, Casey Kasprzyk Coordinating Producer: Mark Pinciotti, Producers: Colleen Bell, Cynthia J. Popp,
8. Executive Producer: Frank Valentini, Coordinating Producer: Jennifer Whittaker-Brogdon, Producers: Mercer Barrows, Michelle Henry, Mary Kelly Weir