The Soapy Award was originally designed by Janis Rogak, the magazine's then- Art Director.

The Soap Opera Digest Awards (formerly the Soapies) have been held every year since 1977, and were last televised in 2000. The magazine used to hold an awards show annually to promote excellence in the genre, as decided by the fans who read the magazine. In June 2011, Stephanie Sloane replaced Leahey as the magazine's editorial director. Berlin was followed by Lynn Leahey, who headed the magazine for 27 years. During her tenure, the magazine saw its greatest circulation growth. Ritterman later promoted her to editor-in-chief and vice president. Meredith Brown Berlin was named executive editor (the magazine's equivalent of editor-in-chief) in 1982 at the age of 26, making her the youngest editor of a national magazine at that time. The issue dates were on Tuesdays, but changed to Mondays beginning with the Apissue. Soap Opera Digest originally published monthly, moved to triweekly issues in 1979, biweekly issues in 1980, and on April 1, 1997, started publishing weekly. began publishing Soap Opera Digest in 2011. K-III was renamed Primedia in 1997, and sold its magazines to Source Interlink in 2007. Murdoch sold Soap Opera Digest to K-III Communications in 1991. According to Ritterman, he'd purchased the magazine at 750,000 subscribers and sold it at 1.3 million.

Ritterman had owned Soap Opera Digest for three years before selling it to Murdoch Magazines Ritterman earned more than $50 million from his share of the $70 million purchase price. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought the magazine from Gerry M. In 1980, Network Publishing Corporation purchased the magazine from Shapiro, who went on to found Soap Opera Update. In the early 1990s, the magazine had up to 1.4 million subscribers. Soap Opera Digest debuted in November 1975, co-founded by Angela Shapiro and Jerome Shapiro and featuring actors John Aniston, Ron Tomme, Audrey Peters, Birgitta Tolksdorf, Jerry Lacy, and Tudi Wiggins of Love of Life on its first cover.

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