10 January 2013 Last updated at 05:02 ET

Homeland directors up for DGA awards

Homeland was nominated for two separate episodes

The directors of hit US show Homeland are among those nominated for Directors Guild of America (DGA) TV awards.

The terrorist thriller scored nods in the dramatic series category for two separate episodes.

They will compete against the directors of Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.

The DGA honours directors of individual episodes of TV shows, unlike the Emmys and Golden Globe awards that honour a series as a whole.

In the comedy category, Lena Dunham was nominated for the pilot of her coming-of-age series Girls, with Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston recognised for directing an episode of Modern Family.

Also nominated were the people behind The Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock and comedian Louis CK for his self-titled show.

The television movies and mini-series category sees nominations for the HBO film Game Change - the behind-the-scenes drama about John McCain's and Sarah Palin's 2008 run for the White House - Hatfields & McCoys, Political Animals, Hemingway & Gellhorn and American Horror Story: Asylum.

Soap opera General Hospital dominates the daytime serial nods with three of the five nominations, alongside Days Of Our Lives and One Life To Live.

The annual awards will also hand out trophies to the directors of movies, children's TV, commercials, reality shows and documentaries.

Winners will be announced at a Hollywood ceremony hosted by actor Kelsey Grammer on 2 February.