The 6th Daytime Emmy Awards were held in 1979 to commemorate excellence in American daytime programming from the previous year (1978). The 1979 Emmy awards introduced the supporting actor and actress categories, meaning that five awards were given out that year, a first in the awards show's history. The outstanding individual achievement in technical and design excellence for daytime drama series category made its debut also (which includes video, audio, music, lighting, art and scenic directors, designers, makeup artists, hair dressers, graphic and title sequence designers).