The NAACP has announced the nominees for the 39th Annual Image Awards. The NAACP Image Awards honors projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts in television, recording, literature and motion pictures. The theme of this year's show is "Stand Up and Be Counted." During this crucial election year, the NAACP encourages everyone to be socially conscious and take a stand on critical human and civil rights issues.
As 2008 starts, many of daytime's drama series are taking steps to improve the diversity among their rosters. However, due to the overall lack of diversity among the soaps, the Image Awards do not feature nominations for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series. Instead, the awards focus on individual performers within the shows.
The nominees do not tend to change much from year to year. However, this year only four of the nominees received nominations last year. Compare that to the previous year when when four of the five nominees in the Outstanding Actor field were nominated the year before. Meanwhile, Passions star Tracey Ross (Eve Russell) has earned a ninth consecutive nomination for her work on the series.
The Young and the Restless has routinely dominated the Image Awards. In the past year, however, the top-rated CBS soap has shead much of its African-American cast members. Former Y&R stars Shemar Moore (ex-Malcolm Winters) was a winner for his work on The Young and the Restless for five consecutive years and Victoria Rowell (ex-Drucilla Winters) tallied a whopping 11 wins.
Here is the listing of soap-related nominees for this year's NAACP Image Awards. For a complete listing of all nominees, click here.
Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series
Bryton McClure (Devon Hamilton, The Young and the Restless)
Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio Vega, One Life to Live)
Kristoff St. John (Neil Winters, The Young and the Restless)
Mykel Shannon Jenkins (Charlie Baker, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Tobias Truvillion (One Life to Live)
Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
Nazanin Boniadi (Leyla Mir, General Hospital)
Brook Kerr (Whitney Russell, Passions)
Christel Khalil (Lily Winters, The Young and the Restless)
Tracey Ross (Eve Russell, Passions)
Tika Sumpter (Layla Williamson, One Life to Live)
The 39th NAACP Image Awards will air live on Thursday, February 14th (8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on FOX.
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