MUMBAI: Ten veteran television personalities will this year share the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award given during the 31st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The National Television Academy has for the first time decided to split the award, usually conferred on one person, between the ten veteran actors who have devoted a major portion of their careers to daytime drama - Rachel Ames, John Clarke, Jeanne Cooper, Eileen Fulton, Don Hastings, Anna Lee, Ray MacDonnell, Frances Reid, Helen Wagner, and Ruth Warrick.

The presentations will be made during the Daytime Emmy Awards which are to be held on 21 May at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Daytime Emmys honour excellence in all fields of daytime television production and are judged and administered in cooperation with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. This year's ceremony is scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC.

The criteria for the award include the actor's position as an original cast member of his or her current show; 35 or more years on the show; and/or significant lifetime experience in Daytime Drama, according to an official release.

Rachel Ames has been with General Hospital since the first year of the programme's air date in 1964 and has the honour of being the longest running performer on ABC's longest running daytime drama. John Clarke is one of the original cast members of Days of our Lives and has played the role of Mickey Horton for 38 years. Jeanne Cooper celebrated her 30th anniversary as Katherine Chancellor, the grande dame of Genoa City, on The Young and the Restless and has been nominated for five Emmy Awards as Outstanding Leading Actress. Eileen Fulton originated the role of Lisa on As The World Turns in 1960 with such aplomb that by 1965 she found herself in her own spin-off series on primetime television. In 1996, Fulton received the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Today she continues working on World Turns and performing her cabaret act at venues across the country.

Don Hastings has played Dr Bob Hughes on As The World Turns for over 40 years. He has written scripts for both As The World Turns and Guiding Light. Prior to joining World Turns, Hastings starred as the Ranger on the children's series Captain Video from 1949 - 1955. In 1993 he was recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received the Silver Circle Award for his more than 25 years of work in television.

Anna Lee has graced General Hospital with her performance of Lila Quartermaine since 1978. She appeared in more than a dozen films in England and then came to the United States in 1939 where she worked with John Ford in the Academy Award winning How Green Was My Valley, the beginning of a 25 year, eight movie collaboration.

Ray MacDonnell joined the original cast of All My Children in 1970 and has since been playing one of Pine Valley's most honored and upstanding characters, Dr Joe Martin. He has several Broadway and off-Broadway credits to his name and spent nearly eight years portraying Philip Capice on The Edge of Night. Frances Reid has played Alice Horton on Days of our Lives for 38 years and is the only remaining cast member. Prior to her longstanding run on television, Reid appeared in several Broadway performances including Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac and Twelfth Night.

Helen Wagner continues to play the longest-running continuous character in television history, appearing in As The World Turns since 1956. She has several Broadway performances to her credit and has played alongside Rex Harrison, Jeanne Pierre Aumont and Lilli Palmer. Ruth Warrick joined the cast of All My Children in 1970 and has been playing Phoebe Tyler ever since.

Art Linkletter was last year's recipient of the National Television Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award.