Nearly every year you'll hear one of the major awards shows talk about how this is the "Year of the Woman." Perhaps it was inevitable, but 1999's Dankies Awards falls under that header.

There were strong showings by women in nearly every category. Of course, most of the categories are broken down into male and female categories. However, even the competition within the female categories was tough this year. Several perennial nominees were noticeably absent this year.

Most of the usual nominees, however, were still represented on the final ballot. Susan Lucci (Erica Kane) and Marcy Walker (Liza Chandler) both made the Outstanding Leading Actress field. They were, however, joined by three new names---at least to this category. Kelly Ripa (Hayley Vaughan), Cady McClain (Dixie Martin), and Finola Hughes (Alexandra Marick) also made the cut.

The men's field looked pretty much the same as in year's past. Vincent Irizarry make a pretty big splash by earning nominations in the Outstanding Leading Actor and Most Attractive Male categories. His character, Dr. David Hayward, earned a Favorite Character nomination in spite of his evil ways.

While most emphasis in awards shows is placed on the individual awards, the other categories are also packed with surprises and top-notch nominees. The storyline categories have more nominees this year than in any previous year. And more impressive is the dispersion of storylines from the beginning of the twelve-month eligibility period through the end of the same period. In other years, most of the nominated storylines seemed to be more recent as voters had an easier time remembering what had just happened on the show.

The Dankies provides unusual twists every year. This year, three of the Least Favorite Character nominees are no longer on the show. Those noms, Raquel Dion, Max Santos, and Kit Fisher, are joined by Millicent Greenlee and Greenlee Smythe.

Voting in this year's Dankies will continue through December 13, 1999. The final ballot and winners will be revealed in a special LIVE Soap Opera Central chat on December 17th.