Like it did last year, CBS swept “The 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” nominations with 61 nominations in total, leading all networks. This was an increase from the 49 nominations it received last year. “The Young and the Restless” led the way for the network with 26 nominations overall. It was followed by “The Bold and the Beautiful” with 18. Like last year, “The Talk” had 5 nominations. “CBS Sunday Morning” and “Let’s Make a Deal” each received 3 nominations, while “The Price is Right” had 2 and “CBS This Morning” had 1.

When CBS opted to honor the life of Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor, “Y&R) with a special tribute airing in place of an original episode of the daytime soap, the decision resulted in an Emmy nomination for the emotional road down memory lane.

While acting, drama, writing, and directing are some of the more popularized categorizes, and will be part of “The 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” whether or not its televised or streamed online on Sunday, June 22, those individuals behind the scenes are just as important to the success of a daytime drama as those that appear onscreen. With that in mind, Soap Opera Network breaks down the nominees in the creative arts categories, which will be awarded on Friday, June 20.

Today, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences officially announced the nominees of the 41st annual Daytime Emmy Awards! The list of pre-noms in the categories for Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor and Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress, Younger Actor and Actress and more was whittled down to just a few final contenders who will compete for the coveted National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy award statuettes during the event that will be taking place on Sunday, June 22. Read on for the official list of nominees in the major categories!

During the final minutes of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the morning show revealed selected nominees for the 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards,” which remains without a TV home despite being scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 22 live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel. According to David Michaels, Senior Executive Director and Co-Executive Producer of the awards show, however, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences does plan to stream the ceremony online if no TV deal can be made for this year.

Real-life friends Brittany Underwood (ex-Langston Wilde, “One Life to Live”; “Hollywood Heights”) and Kristen Alderson (Kiki Jerome, “General Hospital”) have teamed up with PimpMyPooch.com, the new daily deal site for dogs, by lending their name to help support the company’s IndieGogo crowd funding campaign set to launch on Thursday, May 1. The website is seeking potential backers to help it operate in similar fashion to deal-of-the-day websites such as Living Social and Groupon with deals focused exclusively on products and services for dog owners.

Segueing from discussion on baking as a skill that every mom should have on the Wednesday, April 30 edition of her syndicated and online series, “The Better Show,” former “All My Children” actress Rebecca Budig (ex-Greenlee Smythe) announced that she is expecting her first child with husband Michael Benson. “I am five months pregnant,” the excited actress shared with viewers and co-host JD Roberto (pictured above with Budig). “There have been a couple of Facebook followers that have guessed that, but I had a lot of tests and things to do and I wanted to make sure it was all okay before I said, ‘I’m pregnant!’ When her co-host, asked her how she’s feeling overall, Budig revealed she’s actually quite nervous. “I’m nervous. I’m really scared. I don’t think there’s a perfect parent and you don’t know what you’re going to get. I’m a lot more nervous than I thought I’d be.”

While we wait to find out who is nominated for the “41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” when nominations are announced on Thursday, May 1, David Michaels, Senior Executive Director and Co-Executive Producer of the awards show, which falls under the purview of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which is not to be confused with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (now known as simply the Television Academy), recently took time to speak with Soap Opera Network about the upcoming broadcast that still finds itself without a TV home after cable network HLN announced earlier this year that they had passed on airing daytime television’s most highly anticipated event. The network previously aired the ceremony in 2012 and 2013 to record ratings.