The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences unveiled the 48th annual Daytime Emmy Award winners June 25, airing for the first time on both CBS and its new streaming wing Paramount+. Hosted by Sheryl Underwood of “The Talk,” the ceremony shone a light on the best of daytime television programming.
Stalwart ABC daytime series “General Hospital,” which premiered back in 1963 and has become one of the longest running series on TV, was the big winner of the night, taking home the coveted prize of Outstanding Drama Series and two additional wins for its actors. Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series went to Maurice Benard, while Max Gail took the supporting honor.
Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress went to Jacqueline MacInnes Wood for her role of Steffy Forrester on CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Marla Adams of CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” took home the supporting drama award. Actors Victoria Konefal and Jennifer Horton-Devereaux scooped up the Outstanding Younger Performer and the Outstanding Guest Performer Awards, both for NBC’s “Days of Our Lives.”
Among the other honors of the night was beloved and recently departed TV personality Alex Trebek, who was posthumously awarded in the Best Game Show Host category, an honor accepted on his behalf by his children. Trebek hosted over 8,000 episodes of the long-running “Jeopardy!” for almost forty years; he passed away in November 2020 from pancreatic cancer. The series also took home the award for Best Game Show. NBC’s “The Kelly Clarkson Show” took home honors for entertainment talk show and its titular host.
The In Memoriam program loomed large this year with morning show host Kathie Lee Gifford honoring her longtime co-host, the late Regis Philbin, and Martha Stewart celebrating the late CNN anchor Larry King, who posthumously won in the category of Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host.
Acknowledging the difficulties we all faced over the last year, President and CEO of NATAS Adam Sharp said of the 2021 awards: “Tonight, we honor the Daytime community for helping us find our way through the turbulence of the pandemic, increased racial unrest, and the chaos of the presidential election as America faced one of its most trying years in our history. This evening celebrated not only the best programming and performances of this year, but reflected on some of Daytime’s biggest icons that have left an indelible mark on our medium.”
Created in 1974 as a companion award show to their sister, the Primetime Emmys, which hosted their first ceremony in 1949, the Daytime Emmys hand out awards across 22 categories and focus on programs that air from 2 A.M. to 6 P.M. For award acceptance speeches and more on the 2021 Daytime Emmys, click here.
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