The peer votes have been cast, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced the Drama Performer Pre-Nominations for the 40th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards! Five categories have been announced, including Lead Actress and Lead Actor, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor, as well as Younger Actress and Younger Actor. Without further adieu, here are the pre-nominees:

Although it wasn’t listed with the other “Hot” stuff in TV Guide Magazine’s Annual “Hot List” issue (pages 16-35), “General Hospital” did earn a spot under Michael Logan’s Daytime Highlights column (page 84) under the heading “Hot Again.” NBC’s “Days of our Lives” also made the cut under the heading “Hot Days, Hotter Nights” courtesy of daytime’s hottest (and only) gay on screen couple, Will Horton (Chandler Massey) and Sonny Kiriakis (Freddie Smith).

While Soap Opera Digest in its newest issue lists their last airdate being Wednesday, August 15, both Matthew Ashford (Jack Deveraux) and Sarah Brown (Madison James) will actually find their characters departing the world of the living much sooner.

Children Uniting Nations (CUN), one of the premier non-profit organizations working with at-risk and foster youth, kicked off its 7th Annual National Conference, “Keeping the Promise to Our Children,” in DC. Legislators, celebrities and industry experts came together to draw attention to three key pieces of legislation including Bullying, Keeping Sports Programs in Schools and Mentoring Foster Youth. Representative Nancy Pelosi co-chaired the conference along with Senator Mary Landrieu, and legislators in support included Congresswoman Karen Bass, Congressman Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, Congresswoman Judy Chu , Congressman Ed Markey, Congressman Xavier Becerra, Congressman Henry Waxman, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

A sneak peek at the Tuesday, April 10, 2012 episode of NBC’s “Days of our Lives” featuring Chandler Massey and Freddie Smith as Will (Massey) nonchalantly admits to being gay to Sonny (Smith).

The stars of NBC’s “Days of our Lives” at the 4th Annual A ‘Day of Days’ Fan Event at Universal CityWalk Hollywood.

On Thursday, June 23, “Days of our Lives” fans finally got their first glimpse of actor Freddie Smith and his character Sonny Kiriakis, despite the NBC drama series keeping mum on the actors casting for more than two months. On Sunday, June 19, on the red carpet at the “38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards,” Smith opened up about what it was like keeping such a big secret, portraying the shows first gay character and whether or not his character will be hooking up with Will Horton (Chandler Massey) as rumored.