The Hum Award for Best Soap Actress is one of the Hum Awards of Merit presented annually by the Hum Television Network and Entertainment Channel (HTNEC). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance of leading role in soap series while working within the television industry. The 1st Hum Awards (for 2012) was held in 2013, Sumbul Iqbal was the first winner of the award for her role in Raju Rocket. Currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote, within the actors and jury branch of HTNEC; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Hum. Multiple nominations for an actor in same category but for different work is eligible.
Since its inception, the award has been awarded to three actresses, while Arij Fatyma is the most nominated actress in this category. As of 2016 ceremony, Resham is the most recent winner in this category for her role in Ishq Ibadat.
Winners and nominees
In the list below, winners are listed first in the colored row, followed by the other nominees. Following the hum's practice, the dramas below are listed by year of their Pakistan qualifying run, which is usually (but not always) the drama's year of release.
As of the first ceremony, four soap actresses were nominated for the award. This year Hum nominated four dramas for this category (one drama was nominated twice for a performance by an actor) so, total four dramas was nominated. For the first ceremony, the eligibility period spanned full calendar years. For example, the 1st Hum Awards presented on 28 April 2013, to recognized soap actors of dramas that were released between January, 2012, and December, 2012, the period of eligibility is the full previous calendar year from 1 January to 31 December. However, this rule was subjected to change when at third year ceremony two (Sadqay Tumhare and Digest Writer) of seven nominated drama serials were running on TV at the time when nominations were announced.
Date and the award ceremony shows that the 2010 is the period from 2010-2020 (10 years-decade), while the year above winners and nominees shows that the dramas year in which they were telecast, and the figure in bracket shows the ceremony number, for example; an award ceremony is held for the dramas of its previous year.
