For months, Passions fans have been demanding some sort of payoff from the show's numerous ongoing storylines. If those same fans were looking to the Passions Online Awards, known as the Dankies, for some appeasement of that storyline angst... well, let's just move on to the results.
The nominations phase offered to apparent winners - McKenzie Westmore (Sheridan Crane) and Galen Gering (Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald). The pair racked up eight nominations between them. As the votes were cast, it became more and more likely that these same two performers would walk home with a gaggle of awards.
Gering's first win of the awards came in the Outstanding Leading Actor field. Gering scored 57% of the total vote, with his nearest competitor, Ben Masters (Julian Crane), amassing 27% of the vote.
Westmore's first win was equally impressive. Though the percentage of the vote garnered by Westmore was less than her male counterpart, Westmore did manage to capture more than half of the total vote. Lindsay Korman (Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald) placed second with just about a quarter of the vote.
The Supporting Actress category's winner also amassed at least 50% of the total vote. Kim Johnston Ulrich (Ivy Winthrop Crane) placed first, with Brook Kerr (Whitney Russell) in second. Liza Huber (ex-Gwen Hotchkiss), who left the show and the acting biz last year, finished third.
The Outstanding Supporting Actor category provided one of the biggest surprises of this year's Dankies. Fan-favorite Josh Ryan Evans (Timmy) placed second in a category that he was widely expected to win. Evans outscored his nearest competitor by a two-to-one margin in the nominations phase. However, in the final voting, it was Donn Swaby (Chad Harris) who came away with the win. Swaby outscored Evans by two percentage points.
Don't be too upset for young Evans. The actor scored a lopsided win in the Outstanding Younger Performer field. Evans, who appeared in last year's blockbuster "The Grinch," was a bit stingy in his own right, having outpaced his competitors by almost a two-to-one margin.
Deanna Wright (Kay Bennett) picked up the nod for Outstanding Newcomer in a field where she was pitted against two daytime veterans. One Life to Live veterans Robin Strasser (Hecuba) and Andrea Evans (Rebecca Hotchkiss) finished second and third respectively. Wright edged out Strasser by less than 25 votes.
Strasser was not without victory. The actress was named the Most Missed Performer in OLTL Online's Dankies and the actress picked up an award as Outstanding Performance in a Recurring Role or Special Guest Appearance.
Gering and Westmore resurfaced in the Most Attractive Performer categories. Gering topped the men's field and Westmore the women's.
The Most Missed Performer award was given to Taylor Anne Mountz (ex-Kay Bennett, #1). Mountz bested Liza Huber, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (ex-Jessica Bennett, #1) and Brady Bunch alum Maureen McCormick (ex-Rebecca Hotckiss, #1).
It made no different to Passions fans that the role had been played by two actresses in under a year. Rebecca Hotchkiss was named the Least Favorite Character. In a testament to Passions fans' ability to tell the different between a character that they dislike and a performer's acting ability, Maureen McCormick and Andrea Evans combined for four nominations.
On the flip side, Sheridan Crane knocked off Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, Timmy and Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald for the Favorite Character honors.
In the Outstanding Overall Performer category, each of the nominees in the Outstanding Leading Actor and Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress categories were placed in a single category. Voters were then asked to pick one of those performers that turned in the best overall performance in the past twelve months.
Again, there was an unexpected surprise in the voting. It was expected that Westmore and Gering would battle it out for the top honor. That was the case --- up to a point. When asked to choose between the two, Gering lost a lot of support. Because of this, the actor finished third in the voting. Ben Masters (Julian Crane) squeaked into second place. In the end, Westmore raked in 22% of the total vote and finished in first place.
