ABC Studios, CNN and Time Warner Cable Garner Double Wins at the 15th Anniversary NAMIC Vision Awards

ABC Studios, CNN and Time Warner Cable Garner Double Wins at the 15th Anniversary NAMIC Vision Awards

LOS ANGELES, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) today announced the winners of the 2009 NAMIC Vision Awards. Now in its fifteenth year, the NAMIC Vision Awards honor creators, networks and industry leaders for their commitment to producing multi-ethnic and culturally-relevant original television programming that reflects the rich diversity of our world's populace. ABC Studios, CNN and Time Warner Cable received two wins each to lead the 35 networks vying for honors in 16 award categories.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060705/NYW092LOGO )

Shaun Robinson, weekend co-anchor and correspondent for the entertainment news magazine, "Access Hollywood," served as host for the 2009 NAMIC Vision Awards. Robinson earned the title of author with a recent book release titled EXACTLY AS I AM: Celebrated Women Share Candid Advice with Today's Girls on What It Takes to Believe in Yourself. The awards were presented at a special luncheon ceremony held in conjunction with the NAMIC-Southern California West Coast Creative Summit, which is part of NAMIC's signature conference series focused on the content development aspects of television, film and other digital media formats.

Since the inception of the Vision Awards in 1995, NAMIC has recognized the achievements of cable networks producing quality, multi-ethnic original programming content. The 2009 competition marks the expansion of the awards program with eligibility extended to national broadcast networks; local affiliates; local origination programs from cable operators; and VOD content produced for digital platforms. Award categories include Animation; Children's; Comedy; Documentary; Drama; Foreign Language; Lifestyle; News/Informational; Original Movie or Special; Reality; Sports; Variety/Talk Show; Best Performance - Comedy; Best Performance - Drama; Digital Media (Short Form); and Digital Media (Long Form).

"As the face of America continues to change, NAMIC will continue to support and encourage those entities that remain committed to producing multi-ethnic, original programming," said Kathy Johnson, president, NAMIC. "By expanding the Vision Awards competition to ensure greater inclusiveness, our goal is to honor the growing number of creators fostering diversity across digital entertainment platforms."

ABC Studios, a content driver for the Disney/ABC Television Group made a landmark showing among newly-eligible broadcast network programming with a win in the Drama category for "Grey's Anatomy" and a victory in the Comedy category for "Ugly Betty." The ABC Studios win in the Comedy category was the result of a tie with HBO. The HBO comedy special "Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger" was also recognized.

CNN received wins in the Documentary category for "CNN Presents: Black in America," and in the News/Informational category for "Black in America: Suicide Survivor." Time Warner Cable garnered its two wins with "Time Warner Cable's Futbol Mania." The first Spanish speaking VOD channel highlighting the game of Soccer, "Time Warner Cable's Futbol Mania" received top honors in the Foreign Language and Digital Media - Long Form categories. Winners in the performance categories included Larramie Doc Shaw for "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" (Best Performance - Comedy) and Benito Martinez for "The Shield" (Best Performance - Drama).

When breaking down the award winners by companies managing a collection of cable networks and entertainment/news properties, Disney/ABC Television Group and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. each garnered a total of three wins. In addition to the two wins for ABC Studios, Disney Channel's "Handy Manny" took top honors in the Animation category to round out Disney/ABC Television Group's trio of honors. Turner's triad of awards were earned via CNN's wins in the Documentary and News/Informational categories and Laramie Doc Shaw's victory for "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" in the Best Performance - Comedy category.

Entries were judged by a distinguished panel of entertainment industry professionals. Judging 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.

Warner Bros. was the Presenting Sponsor of the 2009 NAMIC West Coast Creative Summit and NAMIC Vision Awards. Additional sponsors included A&E Television Networks; Disney & ESPN Media Networks; Disney/ABC Television Group; HBO; ABC Studios; The Africa Channel; EBRU TV; FX Networks; Nickelodeon; Time Warner Cable; and TV One.

For more information on the NAMIC-Southern California West Coast Creative Summit and NAMIC Vision Awards visit www.namic.com. A complete list of winners for the 15th Anniversary NAMIC Vision Awards follows.

15th ANNIVERSARY NAMIC VISION AWARDS WINNERS

ANIMATION
"Handy Manny" Disney Channel

BEST PERFORMANCE - COMEDY
Larramie Doc Shaw -
"Tyler Perry's House of Payne" TBS

BEST PERFORMANCE - DRAMA
Benito Martinez - "The Shield" FX Networks

CHILDREN'S
"Ni Hao, Kai-Lan" Nickelodeon

COMEDY (Tie)
"Ugly Betty" ABC Studios
"Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger" HBO

DIGITAL MEDIA - LONG FORM
"Time Warner Cable's Futbol Mania" Time Warner Cable

DIGITAL MEDIA - SHORT FORM
"Yes We Can," Essence Election '08 Essence Communications
Telepictures Productions &
Time Inc.'s
Essence Communications

DOCUMENTARY
"CNN Presents: Black in America" CNN

DRAMA
"Grey's Anatomy" ABC Studios

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Time Warner Cable's "Futbol Mania" Time Warner Cable

LIFESTYLE
Down Home With The Neelys -
"Pass It On" Scripps Networks / Food Network

NEWS / INFORMATIONAL (Tie)
"Black in America: Suicide Survivor" CNN
"In Conversation: The Michelle
Obama Interview" TV One

ORIGINAL MOVIE OR SPECIAL
"The Africa Channel Presents:
A Night of Tribute" The Africa Channel

REALITY
"The mun2 Hook Up: Frankie J" mun2

SPORTS
"The Secret Game" ESPN

VARIETY / TALK SHOW
"The BET Honors" BET

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 is comprised of 2,000 professionals belonging to a network of 18 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 on NAMIC, visit www.namic.com.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060705/NYW092LOGO
Source: NAMIC

CONTACT: Daphne Leroy, Vice President of Marketing & Communications for
NAMIC, +1-212-594-5985 (office) or +1-917-204-8408 (cell),
daphne.leroy@namic.com; or Charmaine Chapman of BTB Communications for NAMIC,
+1-310-882-5498 (office) or +1-310-902-8617 (cell),
char@btbcommunications.com

Web Site: http://www.namic.com/

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