'Days of our Lives' De facto Winner of 2023 Writers Guild Award for Daytime Drama

UPDATED: With “Days of our Lives” being the sole nominee in the category of Daytime Drama as part of the 2023 Writers Guild Awards nominations announcement, revealed yesterday by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the show has become the de facto winner, Soap Opera Network has learned. The Writers Guild Awards honors outstanding writing in film, television, new media, news (broadcast and digital), radio/audio, and promotional categories during calendar year 2022.

Writers Guild of America, West, East, WGA, WGA Awards, #WGAAwards — Courtesy of Writers Guild of America

Led by head writer Ron Carlivati, this year’s WGA-winning team for “Days of our Lives” includes writers Lorraine Broderick, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan and Katherine D. Schock.

This marks the third consecutive year in which “Days of our Lives” has taken home the award and the fifth win overall for head writer Ron Carlivati. He previously won the award in 2015 and 2016 for his work as head writer for “General Hospital.”

Ron Carlivati, Days of our Lives, DAYS, DOOL, #DAYS, #DOOL, #DaysofourLives, Head Writer — Photo by Chris Haston/NBC

In a statement released to Michael Fairman TV, Carlivati said, “My team and I are thrilled to be nominated for the 2023 Writers Guild Award for Daytime. We submitted three scripts from the storyline about Craig’s late-in-life coming out, the impact it had on his wife, Nancy, and of course, his ill-fated romance with the ever-scheming Leo. We felt that these episodes were a good representation of what ‘Days of our Lives’ does best: high-stakes family drama with a comedic twist.”

Greg Rikaart, Leo Stark, Kevin Spirtas, Craig Wesley, Days of our Lives, DAYS, DOOL, #DAYS, #DOOL, #DaysofourLives — **Greg Rikaart, Kevin Spirtas** (“Days of our Lives”)
Photo by XJJohnson/JPI Studios

The aforementioned submitted episodes originally aired on April 19, 2022 (#14320), April 20, 2022 (#14321) and May 4, 2022 (#14331).

The last daytime serial to win the award outright was “General Hospital” in 2017 when it was the only drama nominated in the category. The show won again in 2018 and 2019, beating out Carlivati’s “Days of our Lives.” Competing against both “DAYS” and “GH,” “The Young and the Restless” won the award in 2020.

The 2023 Writers Guild Awards ceremony is set to take place on Sunday, March 5, 2023, live from the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

For a full list of this year’s WGA nominees, click here.