Generations may be the country's most watched soapie, but Isidingo has scooped the most nominations for next Saturday's Avanti Awards.
Isidingo, which has an average of 600 000 viewers on Monday to Thursday evenings, is nominated in 14 categories while Generations, watched by an average daily audience of 1,5 million people, is nominated in seven categories. South Africa's first locally made soap, M-Net's Egoli, received no nominations.
The awards ceremony, due to take place in Midrand, is the national television industry's recognition of excellence.
Ten actors from Isidingo - which is about the battles at Horizon Deep mining town - are nominated in the best supporting actor and actress categories. Isidingo and Generations share the nominations in the best multi-camera series.
Popular American soaps The Bold and the Beautiful and Days of Our Lives garner around 800 000 and 1,1 million viewers respectively. But Isidingo and Generations are extremely popular and enjoy the highest viewership in their respective time slots of 6.30pm on SABC3 and 8pm on SABC1.
These two local soapies are high on drama. For example, in the week before the awards, Isidingo ended with a nail-biting courtroom scene fraught with allegations of bribery and corruption, while Generations had a cliff-hanger with the evil Ntsiki clutched from certain death after a young man (who doesn't know he is her son) agrees to donate a kidney to her.
Isidingo's executive producer Hilary Blecher (formerly of NBC's One Life To Live), former Durban actor Kurt Egelhof, and theatre personality Raymond Sargent are nominated in the best director/ director's team category.
The directing team from Generations received one nomination.
Three actors from Generations - Cedwyn Joel (who plays Sonny the barman), macho Sello Maake Ka-Ncube (Archie Moroka, head of New Horizons) and Fana Mokoena, who plays Dr Mandla Sithole, are nominated in the best actor category. The competition - predictably - comes from Isidingo stars Jamie Bartlett (who plays Mike, the racist sleazeball) and Ashley Taylor, who plays the goodie-turned-baddie Clint.
The best actress nominations see the two soapies in close competition. The lovely former Capetonian actress Bianca Amato, who plays Phillipa, the estranged lover of Derek Nyati, and seasoned actress Dorothy Gould (Trish) are nominated from Isidingo.
Stunning S'thandiwe Msomi, who plays the role of twins as well as Archie's (Sello's) wife in Generations, is nominated with fellow actress from the same soapie, Pamela Nomvete, who plays Ntsiki.
Hold your breath until next Saturday as South Africa's soap queens and kings do battle for awards which could give them an edge in the soapie wars.