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HBO, ABC CABLE NETWORKS GROUP AND SHOWTIME LEAD NOMINATIONS FOR 2003 NAMIC VISION AWARDS HONORING DIVERSITY IN CABLE TELEVISION PROGRAMMING
Record Number Of Submissions Generates 44 Nominations In Nine Categories
TV Personality Cynthia Garrett To Host Ninth Annual Presentation Slated for Broadcast On The Major Broadcasting Cable Channel (MBC)
Nominations for the 2003 NAMIC Vision Awards which honors diversity in cable TV programming.
LOS ANGELES, California, March 12, 2003 -- NAMIC, Inc. (The National Association of Minorities In Communications) a non-profit professional organization dedicated to promoting diversity in the telecommunications industry announced their nominees for the Ninth Annual NAMIC Vision Awards. Kathy Johnson, Executive Vice President NAMIC Inc. and Kyle Bowser, NAMIC Vision Awards founder and co-producer made the announcement. A record 156 submissions (up 20% from 2002) generated multiple nominations for popular original programs such as HBO's "The Wire" and "Arli$$," ABC Cable Networks Group/Disney Channel's popular animated series "The Proud Family" and Showtime's original movie, "Keep The Faith, Baby" which chronicled the life and times of African American politician Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. "The Vision Awards exemplifies the best of what the cable television industry produces annually in multiethnic and cross-cultural programming. The marked increase in submissions signifies the industry's steady commitment to creating original content that positively reflects the diverse interest of its viewers," said Bowser.
HBO led the fifteen cable networks recognized with 11 nominations in seven of the nine award categories. ABC Cable Networks Group/Disney Channel and Showtime received 6 nominations each. Of the many accolades presented annually in the entertainment arena, the NAMIC Vision Awards is the sole event honoring the cable industry's accomplishments in diversifying television programming. Award categories include comedy, drama, documentary, music and variety, news/informational, children's programming and foreign language. Additionally, NAMIC's most coveted honors, the North Star and Quasar Awards will be presented. Lifetime Television is this year's recipient of the esteemed North Star Award, given to an individual or organization that has demonstrated exceptional effort coupled with a long-term commitment to develop programming that reflects ethnic and cultural diversity. Four of cable television's top female network executives, Debra Lee, President and COO, Black Entertainment Television; Christina Norman, General Manager VH1; Laureen Ong, President, National Geographic Channel USA; and Pamela Thomas-Graham, President and CEO, CNBC will receive the Quasar Award. Individuals working in telecommunications that have made contributions towards advancing the cause of diversity in the past year are eligible to receive this honor.
Scheduled for Friday, March 28, 2003, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, this year's ceremony will be highlighted by the inaugural presentation of the Legacy Award. The Vision Awards committee created this award to pay homage to a trailblazing body of work that has made an indelible impact on the diversity landscape. "Resurrection Blvd.," Showtime's groundbreaking drama featuring a Latino cast will receive the first-ever Legacy Award. "For 'Resurrection Blvd.' to receive any award would be special enough. But to have NAMIC specifically create the Legacy Award to acknowledge the contributions of the show as the first of its kind to break down barriers and generate opportunities not only for Latinos, but for people of all races, is truly an extraordinary honor," said Dennis Leoni, the show's executive producer. Adds Leoni, "It is my hope that the real legacy of 'Resurrection Blvd.' is that "minorities" will now be able to put behind us the struggle of fighting through color and cultural roadblocks and get on with the business of being fully integrated into a rich and diverse television landscape that puts us both in front of and behind the camera."
Television personality and former host of NBC's "Later," Cynthia Garrett, will host the two-hour extravaganza scheduled for a pre-recorded broadcast on the Major Broadcasting Cable Channel (MBC). Garrett who currently hosts TV Guide Channel's "Hollywood Insider" and HBO's "The Buzz" will lead an all-star line-up of presenters. Dule Hill ("The West Wing"), Mathew St. Patrick ("Six Feet Under"), Boris Kodjoe ("Soul Food"), Raven Simone ("That's So Raven"), Sean Patrick Thomas ("The District"), Shaun Robinson ("Access Hollywood"), Harry Lennix ("Keep The Faith, Baby"), Ken Taylor (TV Guide Channel's "The Screening Room"), BET Nightly News" Anchor, Jacque Reid, Valerie Red-Horse, actor-writer-producer, and Chairman/CEO of Red-Horse Securities, Inc., and Native Nations Asset Management and others are scheduled to appear. In addition to serving as a presenter, Reid will host special pre and post-gala segments featuring live interviews with the presenters, nominees and winners.
Corporate sponsors of the 2003 NAMIC Vision Awards include MTV Networks, Comcast, Lifetime Television, ESPN/ABC Cable Networks Group and Showtime Networks. Multichannel News is the 2003 media partner.
"The annual Vision Awards gala allows us to strengthen our relationships with those cable television entities that share NAMIC's mission of promoting diversity through establishing professional growth opportunities for minorities on all levels of the telecommunications industry," said Johnson. Comprised of more than 1,000 industry professionals with membership in 16 regional chapters nationwide, NAMIC was founded in 1980 as the National Association of Minorities in Communications. A non-profit, 501(c)(6) trade association, NAMIC champions the cause of diversity in telecommunications through strategically facilitating mainstream and grassroots outreach methods. NAMIC has initiated programs developed to achieve diversity in leadership, employment, procurement, programming and ownership, such as the Annual NAMIC Conference, a cornerstone of Cable Diversity Week, the L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program, and its Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business.
A complete list of the 2003 NAMIC Vision Awards honorees, nominees and a rundown of nomination sidebars follows. For more information on the 2003 NAMIC Vision Awards log onto www.namic.com.
2003 NAMIC HONOREES AND NOMINEES BY AWARD CATEGORY
North Star Award Quasar Award
Lifetime Television Debra Lee, President and COO, BET
Christina Norman, General Manager, VH1
Laureen Ong, President, National Geographic Channel USA
Pamela Thomas Graham, President and CEO, CNBC
Legacy Award Comedy
Resurrection Blvd./Showtime Heroes of Black Comedy/Comedy Central
Arli$$ - The Immortal/HBO
John Leguizamos Sexaholix: A Love Story/HBO
Drama Childrens
The Wire: Cleaning Up/HBO The Proud Family: The Party/ABC Cable Networks
Playd A Hip Hop Story/VH1 Group/Disney Channel
10,000 Black Men Named George/Showtime The Proud Family: I Had A Dream/ABC Cable Networks
Keep The Faith, Baby/Showtime Group/Disney Channel
Joe and Max/Starz Encore Group A Walk In Your Shoes Muslim"/Noggin
Rugrats: A Rugrats Kwanzaa/Nickelodeon
Nick News Special Edition: Faces of Hope, The Children of Afghanistan/Nickelodeon
Documentary Foreign Language
My Khmer Heart-Cinemax Real Life/HBO Tu Decides/Video Rola
Intimate Portrait: Marian Wright Edelman/Lifetime Los Especiales De Video Rola/Video Rola
Behind The Music: Bob Marley/VH1 Hawaii Arirang/TAN (The Asia Network)
Driven: Notorious B.I.G./VH1 Con Sabor a Mexico/Video Rola
The Execution of Wanda Jean (America Undercover)/HBO Birth and Rebirth of Modern Korea/TAN
(The Asia Network)
Music/Variety Comedic Performance
Walk of Fame with Stevie Wonder/BET Jo Marie Peyton - The Proud Family/ABC
Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam #4/HBO Cable Networks Group/Disney Channel
MTV2 Presents Unplugged: 2.0 Lauryn Hill/MTV Kyla Pratt - The Proud Family/ABC Cable
Janet Jackson: Live In Concert From Hawaii/HBO Networks Group/Disney Channel
2nd Annual BET Awards/BET Michael Boatman -- Arli$$/HBO
Sandra Oh -- Arli$$/HBO
(more)
NAMIC Vision Awards Nominations Announcement -- 3
Dramatic Performance
Sonja Sohn - The Wire: The Cost/HBO
Harry Lennix -- Keep The Faith, Baby/Showtime
Michael DeLorenzo -- Resurrection Blvd.: Resucceccion/Showtime
Boris Kodjoe -- Soul Food: Emotional Collateral/Showtime
Courtney Vance -- Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story/Showtime
News/Informational
Seasons of Change: The African American Experience/ESPN
Flipped-Racism/MTV
BET Nightly News Special: September 11th - Telling Our Stories /BET
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel #61/HBO
Sierra Leone-Child Soldiers/CNN
NOMINATIONS BY CABLE NETWORK
ABC Cable Networks Group/Disney Channel -- 6
BET -- 3
CNN -- 1
Comedy Central -- 1
ESPN -- 1
HBO -- 11
Lifetime -- 1
MTV -- 2
Nickelodeon -- 2
Noggin -- 1
Showtime - 6
Starz -- 1
Tan (The Asia Network) -- 2
VH1 -- 3
Video Rola -- 3
9TH ANNUAL NAMIC VISION AWARDS SIDEBARS
• ABC Cable Networks Group/Disney Channels The Proud Family" led all other series in total nominations garnering four of the networks six nominations in the Childrens Programming and Comedic Performance categories.
• HBOs original comedy Arlis$$" received three nominations for Best Comedy and nods for castmembers Michael Boatman and Sandra Oh in the Comedic Performance category.
• Showtimes Keep The Faith, Baby" garnered two nominations. The original production received a nom for Best Drama and actor Harry Lennix is up for Best Dramatic Performance.
• Four of Showtimes six noms were in the Dramatic Performance category for performances by male actors of color -- three African Americans and one Latino.
• HBO garnered nominations in both the Dramatic and Comedic Performance categories for Asian actors Sandra Sohn (The Wire") and Sandra Oh (Arli$$").
• The 2nd Annual BET Awards" was the only awards show nominated this year (Music and Variety category).
• Video Rola and TAN (The Asian Network) laid claim to the Foreign Language category, garnering a total of three and two nominations respectively.
---BTB---
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