Some of the world's best digital dramas were celebrated over the weekend with an online presentation of the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Digital Dramas ceremony -- the first event to be streamed on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' brand new platform, The Emmys app. It was an exciting night that culminated in some special wins, a few of which were bestowed upon performers with roots in the soap world.
The Digital Dramas event, hosted by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Jay Rodriguez, was a bit different from the Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony that aired in June on CBS. NATAS chose to broadcast this Emmy ceremony live, which allowed fans to watch the true reactions of the actors, directors, and writers who won in their categories (as opposed to the pre-taped acceptance speeches that were used in the network series' ceremony). The Digital Dramas ceremony was also much shorter, coming in at under an hour in length with just seven categories announced.
As for the winners, the Outstanding Lead Actress trophy went to Jade Harlow for her work as Lianna Ramos on The Bay. The actress has a long history in daytime, having played the role of Sheryl Connors on Days of our Lives and the role of Jessica Bennett on Passions.
The Outstanding Lead Actor win went to Kristos Andrews for his work as Peter Garrett on The Bay. Andrews also won in the Outstanding Directing Team category, together with The Bay series creator and director Gregori J. Martin.
The Outstanding Supporting Actor award went to Tristan Rogers for his work as Doc in Studio City. Rogers currently stars as Robert Scorpio on General Hospital and is also known for playing Colin Atkinson on The Young and the Restless and Hunter Jones, P.I., on The Bold and the Beautiful. This was Rogers' first Daytime Emmy nomination and win -- which is all the more exciting considering he has been a part of the daytime community for nearly 40 years!
Actress Lin Shayne took home the top honors in the Outstanding Guest Performer category for her work on EastSiders, while Michael Slade and Kevin Spirtas (ex-Craig Wesley, DAYS) won the Outstanding Writing Team award for the second year in a row for their work on After Forever.
As Soap Central previously reported, the winner of the Outstanding Digital Drama Series category was announced during the CBS-broadcast Emmy ceremony in June, with top honors going to The Bay.
This year's Daytime Emmy Awards received nearly 300 entries in the Digital Drama categories, representing 25 separate shows entered across the genre, reports Deadline. The nominees included the first two transgender acting nominees in Daytime Emmy history, including Scott Turner Schofield (ex-Nick, B&B) for his work on Amazon Prime's Studio City and Rowin Amone for her role in YouTube's King Ester. RuPaul's Drag Race alum Willam also made history as the first drag queen nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her role in Eastsiders.
For more information on the Digital Drama Daytime Emmy Awards, check out the new NATAS app and website here.
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