Winners of the 19th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards Announced

NEW YORK, July 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), today announced winners of the 19^th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards.  Presented in partnership with 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.  The winners were presented at a live event hosted at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California on July 11, 2013.  A full list of 2013 winners is available at www.namic.com.

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After a two year hiatus in its return to the live event format the NAMIC Vision Awards featured co-hosts, comedian Ralph Harris and actress Michole White.  The duo received rave reviews for their entertaining and engaging command of the awards presentation.  One of today's hottest comedic talents, Harris is the host of TV One's new culinary competition, "My Momma Throws Down."  With an impressive list of television and film credits, White is best known for her role as attorney Fatima Kelly in the A&E series, "100 Centre Street."  Featured celebrity presenters included Vanessa Bell Calloway ("Shameless"), Kwesi Boakye ("The Amazing World of Gumball"), NFL player Jordan Babineaux, and power couple Sheree Fletcher of VH1's "Hollywood Exes" and her husband, retired NFL player, Terrell Fletcher.  Additionally, Miguel Santos, general manager of Myx TV, the only 24/7 Asian American network, joined in giving the honors. 

A total of 13 television networks were honored in the 20 award categories including Animation, Best Performance – Comedy, Best Performance – Drama, Children's, Comedy, Digital Media – Short Form, Digital Media – Long Form, Digital Media – Web Series, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Lifestyle, News/Informational, Original Movie or Special, Reality, Sports and Variety/Talk Show.  Notably, winner Don Cheadle won in the Best Performance – Comedy category for his portrayal in the Showtime original series "House of Lies" and Michael Kenneth Williams won in the Best Performance – Drama category for his portrayal in the HBO original series "Boardwalk Empire."  TV One's original series "The Rickey Smiley Show" was this year's Comedy category winner.  HBO's original, "Treme" took top honors for Drama.  Harpo Studio's "Oprah's Master Class" won for Best News/Informational program. 

CNN and HBO were top winners this year garnering four and three awards respectively.  Nickelodeon, TV One and mun2 earned two awards each this year.  Single category winners include BET Networks, ESPN, Discovery en Espanol, GMA Life TV, Style Network, NuVO TV, and Showtime. 

In addition to the networks honored at the event, veteran Hollywood producer, director, actor and writer Bill Duke received the 2013 NAMIC Creative Legacy Award.    Vincent Cordero, executive vice president and general manager at Fox Deportes was given the inaugural 2013 Corporate Leadership Diversity Award for his exemplary business achievements.  NAMIC board member, Michael Cooper, vice president, Distribution Marketing, Fox Networks Group was on-hand to make the presentation to Cordero. Oprah Winfrey was named the 2013 NAMIC Members' Favorite Personality, a new category for this year's awards.

The event was sponsored by Disney-ABC Networks, Warner Brothers, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Comcast and NBC Universal, Fox Deportes, and producer Carl Beverly.  A pre-event reception was exclusively hosted by Fox Audience Strategy.

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 2013 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 - 2013 NAMIC VISION AWARDS

ANIMATION
Dora the Explorer – Nickelodeon

AWARDS AND HONORS
Black Girls Rock! – BET Networks

BEST PERFORMANCE – COMEDY
Don Cheadle – House of Lies – Showtime Networks

BEST PERFORMANCE – DRAMA
Michael Kenneth Williams – Boardwalk Empire - HBO

CHILDREN'S
Nick News with Linda Ellerbee – Nickelodeon

COMEDY
The Rickey Smiley Show  – TV One

DIGITAL MEDIA – LONGFORM
Black and Latino – mun2

DIGITAL MEDIA  – SHORT FORM
The Secret of Chancla – mun2

DIGITAL MEDIA – WEB SERIES
Freedom Project: Mauritania Slavery's Last Stronghold – CNN

DOCUMENTARY (TIE)
World Sports Presents: It's Not Black and White – CNN (tie)
The Loving Story – (HBO) tie

DRAMA
Treme – HBO

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Caras Del Odio – Discovery En Español

LIFESTYLE
Kusina Master – GMA Life TV

NEWS / INFORMATIONAL
Harpo Studios – Oprah's Master Class

ORIGINAL MOVIE OR SPECIAL
CNN Special Projects: Leaders with Heart – CNN

REALITY (UNSCRIPTED)
Tia and Tamera – Style Network

REALITY (SOCIAL SERIES)
Save My Son – TV One

SPORTS
Busted Coverage – ESPN

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE
Inside Africa: The Himba of Namibia – CNN

VARIETY / TALK SHOW
Mario Lopez: One on One – NuVO TV

AWARDS BY NETWORK/DISTRIBUTOR

BET Networks - 1
CNN - 4
Discovery En Espanol - 1
ESPN – 1
GMA Life TV - 1
Harpo Studios - 1
HBO - 3
mun2 – 2
Nickelodeon – 2
NuVo TV - 1
Showtime Networks – 1
Style Network - 1
TV One - 2

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 nearly 2,100 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