Winners of the 18th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards Announced

NEW YORK, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), today announced winners of the 18th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards.  Presented by NAMIC – Southern California, the awards recognize original, multi-platform television programming that depicts the lives, spirit and contributions of people of color and best reflects the diversity of the global viewing audience.  Presented via an online event format, The 2012 NAMIC Vision Awards Winners Gallery is available for viewing at http://www.namic.com.

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A total of 11 television networks were honored in the 15 award categories including Best Performance – Comedy, Best Performance – Drama, Children's, Comedy, Digital Media – Short Form, Digital Media – Long Form, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Lifestyle, News/Informational, Original Movie or Special, Reality, Sports and Variety/Talk Show.  Notably, winners Andre Braugher and Jada Pinkett-Smith tied in the Best Performance – Drama category for their portrayals in the TNT original series "Men of a Certain Age" (Braugher) and "Hawthorne" (Pinkett-Smith).  Additionally, Luis Guzman won Best Performance – Comedy for HBO's "How to Make It in America." BET Networks' original series "Reed Between the Lines" was this year's Comedy category winner.  Universal Television's original, "Parenthood" took top honors for Drama. 

BET Networks, ESPN, HBO, Nickelodeon, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network and TNT each garnered two awards to lead the field of winners.  Single category winners include A&E Network, Discovery En Espanol, mun2, Scripps Networks Interactive, Universal Television and USA Network.

In addition to online viewing of :60 second clips of the winning programs via The 2012 NAMIC Vision Awards Winners Gallery, current NAMIC members are eligible to cast their votes for the NAMIC Members' Choice Award by selecting their favorite from the field of winning entries.

The NAMIC Vision Awards competition extends eligibility to national broadcast and cable networks; local affiliates; local origination programs from cable operators; and VOD content produced for digital platforms.  A distinguished panel of entertainment industry executives served as judges for this year's awards competition.  Judging is focused on overall imagery (creative merit, originality, and presentation quality), sensitivity (the consideration given to cultural nuances), writing (the depiction of issues relevant to people of color) and the quality of acting in the performance categories.

A complete winners list for the 2012 NAMIC Vision Awards follows.  For more information, visit www.namic.com or contact Sandra Girado, director of Meetings and Events, at the NAMIC national headquarters, 212-594-5985.

WINNERS - 2012 NAMIC VISION AWARDS

BEST PERFORMANCE – COMEDY
Luis Guzman – How to Make It in America – HBO

BEST PERFORMANCE – DRAMA (TIE)
Andre Braugher – Men of a Certain Age – TNT
Jada Pinkett Smith – Hawthorne – TNT

CHILDREN'S
Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: Beyond I Have a Dream – Nickelodeon

COMEDY
Reed Between the Lines – BET Networks

DIGITAL MEDIA  – LONGFORM
Oprah's Lifeclass: Live – OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

DIGITAL MEDIA  – SHORT FORM
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month – Nickelodeon
Mexican Pointy Boots – mun2

DOCUMENTARY
Sing Your Song – HBO

DRAMA
Parenthood – Universal Television

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
La Ley Del Miedo – Discovery En Espanol

LIFESTYLE
Cooking Channel's Easy Chinese: San Francisco – Scripps Networks Interactive

NEWS / INFORMATIONAL
Oprah's Master Class – OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

ORIGINAL MOVIE OR SPECIAL
The Space Between – USA Network

REALITY
Beyond Scared Straight – A&E Network

SPORTS
The Promise – ESPN

VARIETY / TALK SHOW
MLK: Image of the Black Athlete – ESPN

AWARDS BY NETWORK/DISTRIBUTOR                                                            
A&E Network - 1                                                                    
BET Networks - 2                                                                                                                  
Discovery En Espanol - 1
ESPN - 2
HBO - 2
mun2 - 1
Nickelodeon - 2
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network - 2
Scripps Networks Interactive - 1
TNT - 2           
Universal Television - 1
USA Network - 1

ABOUT NAMIC

NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) is the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC comprises over 2,600 professionals belonging to a network of 16 chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve. For more information, please visit www.namic.com and stay connected to NAMIC on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and DiversityLive: The Business > Social NAMIC Network.

SOURCE NAMIC