As the World Turns - NEWS ROOM

The 36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards may still be several months away, but let's get the party started today! Why? Because As The World Turns will be well-represented at the awards show!

Maura West (Carly Tenney), Van Hansis (Luke Snyder) and Julie Pinson (Janet Snyder) have all been nominated for a Daytime Emmy this year!

In the Outstanding Lead Actress category, Maura West (Carly Snyder) will represent Oakdale! 2008 was quite a year for the character of Carly! She overcame all of that 'misdiagnosis' misery and started her life over! After realizing that Jack would never forgive her past, Carly moved on. She tried to help Jack find happiness with Janet. Sure, she also tried to break them up, but Carly and Jack have too much history for her to simply give up, right? And when Craig returned to Oakdale, she started a brief flirtation, causing Jack even more annoyance. Kudos to Maura!

Julie Pinson (Janet) has been nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category. Since her character arrived in Oakdale, nothing has been the same! She and daughter Liberty tried to break up Brad and Katie. When that didn't work, Janet turned to Brad's brother Jack. What started as no-strings-sex quickly turned to love, and although many fans are still rooting for Jack and Carly to reunite, many more have become 'Jacket' fans! Congratulations, Julie!

The Outstanding Supporting Actor nomination goes to Van Hansis (Luke Snyder), who had an interesting year in Oakdale. Although his cutting-edge romance with Noah (Jake Silbermann) was finally consummated, most Nuke fans still feel the pair aren't given enough airtime as a couple. In recent months, their time on-air has increased, but the most interesting storylines have been with either Luke or Noah, not Luke and Noah. Luke, for instance, went up against ex-friend Kevin for Oakdale U's president position. He fixed the election (with Casey's help) to win – and got himself kicked out of school for his actions! After that, Luke began drinking heavily, but Noah and Alison helped him see that he was wrong. Since then, Luke has focused his energies on his new foundation and on Noah.

And in the Outstanding Younger Actress category, Meredith Hagner (Liberty Ciccone) has been nominated. Liberty came on the scene last spring as Brad's long-lost daughter and quickly developed a friendship with Parker. Neither family liked the link and tried to break the pair up so Libs and Parker started sneaking around. Liberty eventually decided to just be friends with Parker, but he did not stop wanting to date her!

The show was also nominated for a technical Emmy Award in Casting Directing.

Soaps.com congratulates Van, Meredith, Julie and Maura on their nominations. We wish you the best of luck at the awards ceremony on August 30. Soaps.com Editor-in-Chief Christine Fix will be on-hand at the awards ceremony to bring us behind the scenes scoops and much more, so stay tuned fans!