Inside Soap Award nominations announced

The nominations for the 15th annual Inside Soap Awards have been announced and EastEnders' Lacey Turner (Stacey Branning) is in the running for Best Actress for the fifth year in a row.

Amongst others, Lacey will face stiff competition from Coronation Street's Sally Dynevor. Her character Sally Webster is currently facing breast cancer in a moving storyline - a battle the actress herself is facing in real life.

Last year's Best Actor winner, Corrie's Gray O'Brien, will be defending his title from competitors including fellow cobbles star Chris Gascoyne (Peter Barlow), EastEnders' Nitin Ganatr (Masood Ahmed), and Kieron Richardson (Ste Hay) from Hollyoaks.

The live episode of EastEnders, which marked the soap's 25th birthday, has been recognised with a Best Exit nomination for Charlie Clements (Bradley Branning) and a Best Stunt nod for Bradley's death.

Meanwhile Footballers Wife actress Zoe Lucker may have only been in a handful of EastEnders episodes as Vanessa Gold, but she has still managed to bag two nominations - Best Newcomer and Sexiest Female.

New categories this year include Best Daytime, Best Wedding and Best Stunt.

Readers of Inside Soap will now vote in 15 categories to determine the shortlist which will be announced in September.