Some fans may feel that holding the Daytime Emmys at the end of October is too late in the year, since the ceremony honors the best and brightest in soaps and other daytime programming from the previous calendar year.
But the good news for nominees, attendees, and press was the mild weather: Temperatures reached about 71 degrees at the ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium — a welcome change from the sweltering heat of earlier summer award ceremonies in Pasadena.
Best of all, all five soap operas — Beyond the Gates, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless — went home winners at the 2026 edition.
Beyond expectations
Hopes were high for Beyond the Gates, which entered the night with 15 nominations, a record for a soap opera in its first year of Emmy eligibility. (In 1988, The Bold and the Beautiful earned six nominations and won three, all in the Creative Arts categories.)
Beyond the Gates did not disappoint, taking home four awards Friday night. The show’s biggest win went to Tamara Tunie, who won Best Lead Actress for her role as Anita Dupree. The actress submitted scenes related to Anita’s breast cancer story.
“It’s been incredible to have more than two Black actors on a show,” Tunie told Gold Derby on the red carpet outside the Palladium before the show. “We’re able to tell many stories and delve into different issues and situations.”
Golden girls
The Young and the Restless’ Beth Maitland won her second Daytime Emmy on Friday night for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Traci Abbott. She had won the same award for the same role 41 years earlier, in 1985.
“It is a representation of the feeling of relevance,” Maitland tells Gold Derby of her victory. “You can still be seen and heard.”
The Bold and the Beautiful’s Scott Clifton, who took home Best Lead Actor for his role as Liam, told Gold Derby he had won four awards. In fact, he has won five times but owns only four statuettes.
“When I won my first Daytime Emmy [for Best Younger Actor in 2011 for playing Liam], they sent me home with it, but there was a rattling sound in the statuette,” Clifton recalls. “I called NATAS and said, ‘Hey, I think there’s something wrong with my award. What should I do?’ They said, ‘This happens. No problem. We’ll send you a new Emmy, and we’ll also send you a box to return the old one to us.’”
Alas, the replacement award arrived, but the box never did. “I called,” Clifton recalls. “Then I just gave up. The [first Emmy] is sitting in my attic, gathering dust.”
Clifton’s storyline aired in the first half of 2025, but actors submit reels from the eligibility period for consideration the following year, so the timing of a storyline within that period does not determine whether it can be submitted.
“That’s a really astute point,” Clifton tells Gold Derby. “If you have a brilliant performance in a film that comes out a week after the Oscars [you might not get noticed]. Daytime protects us.”
The rules allow actors to submit up to 15 minutes of their work, but Clifton used about half that time. “I wanted to keep it under eight minutes,” he says.
Clifton’s reel included scenes establishing Liam’s “fatal” brain tumor; scenes with his father, Bill (Don Diamont), in which Liam collapsed; and a third set of scenes in which Liam and Hope (Annika Noelle) admit that they both know he is dying.
To live and die at the Daytime Emmys
Stories of death and dying also served other Emmy contenders well. The General Hospital writing team won for episodes involving the death of Monica (the late Leslie Charleson). The show also won its sixth consecutive Daytime Emmy for Best Daytime Drama Series for the somber storyline.
The Days of Our Lives directing team won for episodes involving the memorial for John Black (the late Drake Hogestyn).
“John represented a huge history, and he was very close to everyone, cast and crew, on-screen and off. What you saw was also a real-life celebration of [Drake’s] life,” said Noel Maxam, Days of Our Lives co-executive producer and director.
“Most people don’t know that Drake and my wife [Abby] both died of pancreatic cancer, so the day and the episode took on a different meaning for me,” Maxam says.
Days of Our Lives’ win in this category ended the General Hospital directors’ six-year winning streak.
“I applaud General Hospital and all the directors there, and the directors at The Young and the Restless, too,” Maxam says. “Our directors work very closely with each other. I’m so proud of our directors.”
In addition to telling some of the most romantic stories on soaps, Days of Our Lives is also known for its memorable villains, including Stefano DiMera (the late Joe Mascolo) and Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel). Maxam teases that another antagonist is joining the show’s roster of baddies.
“There’s so much coming up,” Maxam says. “We have introduced, I think, one of the greatest supervillains to ever hit daytime.”
Casting about
General Hospital casting director Mark Teschner won his 12th Daytime Emmy for Best Casting in a Daytime Drama Series. His reel included performers new to Port Charles in 2025, including Erika Slezak (Ronnie, General Hospital; ex-Viki, One Life to Live), Rory Gibson (Michael), Carlo Rota (Jenz), and Chris McKenna (Jack). “We put 15 actors on our reel, and we started with Erika,” Teschner tells Gold Derby. “I think we had a really good year. I love the cast. This cast is amazing.”
Think of Laura
A highlight of the night was the Lifetime Achievement Award, which went to legendary General Hospital actress Genie Francis. She won the Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007. Her husband, Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), presented the award.
While Laura Spencer is Francis’ signature role, the video tribute package also acknowledged her other soap roles: Diana on Days of Our Lives, Ceara on All My Children, and Genevieve on The Young and the Restless. It also included Brett on the nighttime miniseries North and South.
Francis tells Gold Derby she was deeply touched by the number of co-stars, past and present, who paid tribute to her in the video package. Among those who sent shout-outs were Jonathan Jackson (ex-Lucky, General Hospital), Mary Beth Evans (Kayla, Days of Our Lives), and Parker Stevenson (Billy Hazard, North & South).
Frakes referred to Francis’ late leading man, General Hospital star Anthony Geary (Luke), who proclaimed in his acceptance speech after winning his first Daytime Emmy in 1982, “Genie Francis! Half of this is yours!”
“Wasn’t it nice?” Francis said of the video tribute to her career. “I had no idea all those people were going to speak. It got to me.”
Not much footage from Francis’ early years on General Hospital appears to exist, but the package included early scenes of Francis and her TV mother, the late Denise Alexander (Lesley).
“Mostly, I just didn’t want to disappoint her,” Francis says of working with Alexander. “She was a big, big star, and I was there to be her daughter.”
Persistence pays off for a Beyond the Gates star
Tunie’s win came later in the awards show. Ambyr Michelle became the first acting winner from Beyond the Gates, winning Best Emerging Talent for her role as Eva Thomas.
“I don’t just see an award. I see every audition, every rejection, every promise fulfilled,” she said in her speech.
Gold Derby asked Michelle backstage about her speech and its universal appeal to anyone struggling to find professional fulfillment.
“Everybody may think that it’s all butterflies and rainbows, but the journey to winning something like this is very hard,” Michelle says. “I wanted my speech to be authentic and real. I feel like we broke out in our first year with 15 nominations. I want the show to go on for 100-plus years. I feel like this is just the start.”
