The Young and the Restless wins the 78th Annual Writers Guild Award for Daytime Drama

The Young and the Restless has won the 78th Annual Writers Guild Award for Daytime Drama. The other nominees were Beyond the Gates and General Hospital.

The Young and the Restless, the Write Stuff

Several characters on The Young and the Restless went to France last year | Image: JPI

According to Deadline, The Young and the Restless won the award for Daytime Drama. The ceremony was held in New York City. Traditionally, there's a ceremony on the West Coast that takes place at the same time. However, this year's West Coast ceremony was canceled due to a strike at the WGA West office.

The listed names on The Young and the Restless roster for the WGA Award are: Jeff Beldner, Marla Kanelos, Dave Ryan, Susan Banks, Amanda L. Beall, Marin Gazzaniga, Rebecca McCarty, and Madeleine Phillips.

The stories on Y&R last year included the psychological drama involving Sharon (Sharon Case) and Phyllis's (Michelle Stafford) kidnapping by Martin Laurent (Christopher Cousins), as well as Danny (Michael Damian) and Cricket's (Lauralee Bell) wedding, the introduction of Aristotle Dumas (AKA Cane Ashby, played by Billy Flynn), and Cane's launch of the Artificial Intelligence software war, and the deaths of Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck), Damian Kane (Jermaine Rivers), and Chance Chancellor (Conner Floyd).

The Young and the Restless, WGA winners

Danny and Cricket's wedding in 2025 on The Young and the Restless | Image: JPI

While soaps originated as radio dramas in the 1930s, the WGA Awards first incorporated daytime dramas into their awards in 1973 (for material airing in 1972), even though the WGA Awards first launched in 1949.

The first winner was the soap opera Love of Life. Ryan's Hope, created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, won the coveted award a record 11 times, starting in 1975.

Other winners include Search for Tomorrow, Santa Barbara, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, Loving, General Hospital, All My Children, Days of our Lives, and As the World Turns.

The Young and the Restless was created by the late William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell. The series debuted on March 26, 1973, as a half-hour drama, telling the stories of the Foster and Brooks families. In 1980, the show became an hour in length. As the Foster and Brooks clans shifted off the canvas, new families -- the Abbotts, the Newmans, and the Williamses -- moved to the forefront.

Y&R hit the No. 1 spot in the ratings in December 1988, and it has been the top-rated daytime drama since that time.