Big Changes Are Coming To The Daytime Emmys In The Younger Acting Categories!

If you’re in your mid-20s and under, it just got a lot harder to win at the Daytime Emmys. Two categories are now being condensed into one, and as a result, we will likely see fewer nominees than we have in the past.

Variety is reporting that the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is taking the Emmy categories of Outstanding Younger Leading Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series, which have each been around since 1985 (undergoing name changes over the years), and combining them to be one category.

That means actors and actresses will compete for one award. Also eligible for in this newly formed category will be young actors and actress from digital series.

NATAS created the categories — originally called Outstanding Ingenue/Woman in a Drama Series and Outstanding Juvenile/Young Man in a Drama Series — for the 1985 awards. Back then, there were 13 soap operas one the air (Edge Of Night ended in December 1984). Today, there are four.

The winners in the first year of the competition for younger stars were Tracey Bregman (Lauren, The Young and the Restless) and Brian Bloom (ex-Dusty, As the World Turns).

Over the years, winners and nominees in the Younger Actress category have included Julianne Moore (ex-Frannie/Sabrina, ATWT), Anne Heche (ex-Vicky/Marley, Another World), Melissa Leo (ex-Linda, All My Children), Robin Wright (ex-Kelly, Santa Barbara), and Ashley Peldon (ex-Marah, Guiding Light).

Winners and nominees in the Younger Actor category include Michael E. Knight (ex-Tad, AMC), Chad Brannon (ex-Zander, General Hospital), Justin Torkildsen (ex-Rick, B&B), Jacob Young (ex-Lucky, GH), and Jordi Vilasuso (ex-Tony, GL; now, Rey, YR).