The 53rd annual Daytime Emmy nominations announcement is underway. Among the early nominees: recently completed talkers “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (nod for talk series and talk host) and “Sherri” (with a nod to talk host).

The Daytime Emmy Awards, administered by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, recognize daytime drama, talk series, entertainment news, culinary, adventure, how-to and legal/court programming. This year’s Lifetime Achievement honorees, Gold & Silver Circle members and the ceremony host will be announced at a later date.

The Daytime Emmys, previously held in June, were moved to mid-fall last year; The 2026 event is scheduled to take place as a single ceremony on Friday, October 30 in Los Angeles.

“We are proud to honor the extraordinary talent and creative teams whose work continues to define and elevate daytime television,” said NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp. “As the Daytime landscape evolves and new ways of telling stories emerge, we remain committed to recognizing the innovation happening across the industry.”

This year’s Daytime Emmy nominations come after several rule changes were announced this spring. Among the modifications: Submissions will now be episode-based, what it calls a “primetime format,” allowing shows to enter multiple submissions for different episodes and potentially receive multiple nominations.

Additionally, NATAS has chosen to determine how many nominations a category will get based on a scale of how many submissions there were, much like what happens at the Primetime Emmys. The default number of nominations in a category is:

10 – 29 submissions: 5 nominations
30 – 59 presentations: 6 nominations
60 – 89 presentations: 7 nominations
90 – 119 presentations: 8 nominations
120 -149 presentations: 9 nominations
150 or more submissions: 10 nominations

If there are fewer than ten submissions in a category, the default number of nominations is 50% of the submissions in the category, rounded to the nearest whole number. Categories with three or fewer submissions have no nominations, “although the National Awards Committee may proceed with an award based on a standard of excellence if the category is not merged or otherwise eliminated.”

Meanwhile, there’s a new threshold to determine when you’re eligible to guest star on a daytime drama (“To be eligible for guest status, you must be seen in a maximum of 19% of episodes broadcast/broadcast for the first time during calendar year 2025. Otherwise, you must enter eligible categories only in the Lead, Supporting, or Emerging Talent categories.”)

And the science and nature programming category was eliminated during the day, as shows will now be required to be presented on Primetime, News & Doc or Children’s & Family, depending on eligibility.

Finally, daytime dramas and nonfiction shows will now fall together in categories except writing and directing. Categories will be split again if both daytime drama and daytime nonfiction tracks have at least 10 submissions each.

NATAS Productions is behind the Daytime Emmys. Adam Sharp and Lara Gates are executive producers, and Leon Knoles returns as ringmaster for the fifth consecutive year. “Each year, the Daytime Emmy Awards celebrate the creativity, passion and dedication that drives this vibrant community of storytellers,” said Daytime Emmy Awards Director Rachel Schwartz. “Congratulations to this year’s nominees, whose work continues to entertain, inspire and connect with audiences every day. We look forward to celebrating their notable achievements in Hollywood this October.”

Here are this year’s nominations, starting with four categories that were revealed Monday night during broadcasts of entertainment news magazines “Extra” and “Entertainment Tonight”:

Best Lead Performer in a Daytime Drama Series: Actress

Best Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series: Actor

Excellent series of daytime talks

Best Host for a Daytime Interview Series

There will be more when the remaining nominees are announced Tuesday morning.