Audra McDonald, Anika Noni Rose, Denzel Washington, Vanessa Williams, et al. Receive NAACP Image Award Nominations

The nominations for the 41st annual NAACP Image Awards have been announced. The awards will be presented in a ceremony on February 26 to be broadcast on FOX.

Among the nominees are Anika Noni Rose, who has received two nominations. One for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and one for The Princess and the Frog. Also doubly nominated is Vanessa Williams, who has been nominated both for her album The Real Thing and for her work on ABC’s Ugly Betty.

Ugly Betty was also nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, along with FOX’s Glee, NBC’s 30 Rock, CW’s Everybody Hates Chris, and TBS’ Tyler Perry’s House of Payne. Perry himself has been nominated in Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture category for Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself.

The film Precious led the film pack with eight nominations, including nods for actors Gabourey Sibide, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey. Theater veterans who have been nominated in film categories include Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Anthony Mackie, Denzel Washington, and Alfre Woodard. In addition, director Spike Lee has been nominated for his work on Passing Strange: The Movie.

Theater notables nominated for their work on television include Tichina Arnold, Ruby Dee, Taye Diggs, Aunjanue Ellis, America Ferrera, Laurence Fishburne, Hill Harper, Delroy Lindo, Audra McDonald, S. Epatha Merkerson, Rosie O’Donnell, Sandra Oh, James Pickens, Corey Reynolds, Sherri Shepherd, Cicely Tyson, and Chandra Wilson.

In other categories, Whoopi Goldberg has been nominated for her children’s book Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Toeshoe Trouble and Terry Teachout and James Gavin have been nominated in the Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Auto-Biography for their books on Louis Armstrong and Lena Horne, respectively.

For further information, visit: www.naacpimageawards.net.