HBO Max led a field of more than 40 streaming, services, networks and digital companies nominated for 2023 NAMIC Vision Awards, the diversity organization announced Tuesday morning (April 18).

HBO Max -- which will be rebranded to Max next month -- drew eight Vision Awards nominations to lead all distributors, according to the organization. The Vision Awards honor excellence in inclusive programming. 

ABC also garnered multiple nominations along with Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Hulu, Disney Channel, Starz, AMC, CBS, PBS, Fuse, Food Network, CNN, Revolt, ESPN, TBS/TNT/TruTV, CBS Sports, World Channel and Sesame Workshop.

ABC shows Abbott Elementary, black-ish and The Wonder Years secured three of the five slots in the best comedy series award category, with Disney Plus’s Ms. Marvel and CBS Studios’s The Neighborhood rounding out the category.

On the best drama side, freshman series Dark Winds (AMC) and Women of the Movement (ABC) will battle veteran shows 9-1-1 (Fox), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) and The Good Fight (Paramount Plus) for top honors.

Shows earning multiple nominations include Ms. Marvel, The Neighborhood, Dark Winds, Raven’s Home (Disney Channel), Taste the Culture (TBS/TNT/TruTV), Sesame Street (Sesame Workshop) and The Hair Tales (Hulu).

NAMIC said it will announce winners in each category this May.

Below are the list of nominees for the 2023 NAMIC Vision Awards:

Animation 

Craig of the Creek – Cartoon Network

Karma’s World – 9 Story Media Group

More Than I Want to Remember – MTV Entertainment Studios 

Star Trek: Lower Decks – Paramount Plus 

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder – Disney Plus

Best Performance – Comedy

Frankie Quiñones (This Fool) – Hulu 

Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) – Disney Plus 

Omari Hardwick (Fantasy Football) – Paramount Plus

Raven-Symoné: (Raven’s Home) – Disney Channel 

Tichina Arnold: (The Neighborhood) – CBS Studios

Best Performance – Drama 

Cliff “Method Man” Smith: (Power Book II: Ghost) – Starz 

Courtney B. Vance: (61st Street) – AMC 

Patina Miller: (Power Book III: Raising Kana) - Starz

Viola Davis:(The First Lady) – Showtime

Zahn McClarnon: (Dark Winds) – AMC 

Children’s

Mira, Royal Detective – Disney Junior

Raven’s Home – Disney Channel 

Rise Up, Sing Out – Disney Junior 

Sesame Street – Sesame Workshop 

That Girl Lay Lay – Nickelodeon 

Comedy 

Abbott Elementary – Warner Bros. Television | ABC 

black-ish – ABC 

Ms. Marvel – Disney Plus

The Neighborhood – CBS Studios 

The Wonder Years – ABC 

Digital Media – Short Form 

Sesame Street’s #ComingTogether Word of the Day Series – Sesame Workshop 

Taste the Culture – tbs/TNT/truTV

TO BE FREE: Featuring Natasha Cloud – CBS Sports 

Historian’s Take: What is #LandBack? Inside New Native American TV Shows – PBS 

Why Am I Like This?: Where Does My Skin Color Come From? – PBS 

Documentary 

Aftershock – Hulu Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond – World Channel 

Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America ReFramed Special – American Documentary, Inc. and World Channel 

Invisible Valley - Fuse 

Master of Light – HBO Max 

Drama

9-1-1 - FOX 

Dark Winds – AMC 

Grey’s Anatomy – ABC 

The Good Fight – Paramount Plus 

Women of the Movement – ABC 

Lifestyle 

Delicious Miss Brown – Food Network 

Married to Real Estate – HGTV 

Outchef’d – Food Network 

Selena + Chef – HBO Max 

Spring Baking Championship: Easter – Food Network 

News/Informational 

GMA in Ghana/The ‘Black Panther’ Effect – Good Morning America 

The Color of Care – Smithsonian Channel 

The Hair Tales – Onyx Collective/OWN/Hulu 

Traffic Stop: Dangerous Encounters – CNN 

What Happened to Anton Black – Dateline 

Original Movie or Special 

A Gingerbread Christmas – Food Network 

A Rich Christmas – BET+ 

REVOLT x Michelle Obama: The Cross-Generational Conversation – REVOLT 

The Real Thirst Trap: Investigating Black America’s Water Crisis – REVOLT 

Unsound – Fuse 

Reality 

90 Day Fiancé – TLC 

Lizzo Watch Out For The Big Grrrls – Amazon 

Made From Scratch – Fuse 

We’re Here – HBO Max 

Why Not Us: Southern Dance – ESPN+ 

Reality – Social Issues 

Inside College Football: Mental Health – CBS Sports 

Taste the Culture – tbs/TNT/truTV SC 

Featured: Jackie to Me – ESPN 

SC Featured: Net Worth – ESPN 

The Hair Tales – Onyx Collective/OWN/Hulu 

Sports 

38 At the Garden – HBO Max 

After Jackie – History Channel 

Dream On – ESPN 

Say Hey, Willie Mays! – HBO Max 

Serena Williams: On Her Terms – CNN 

Variety/Talk Show 

Don’t Cancel Me with Amara La Negra – Fuse 

Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel – HBO Max

PAUSE with Sam Jay – HBO Max 

The Amber Ruffin Show – Peacock 

Yvonne Orji: A Whole Me. – HBO Max

Sesame Workshop is connecting with the children of Ukraine with 140 animated video segments that run five minutes apiece. Sesame has worked out a partnership with Eastern European media company 1+1 Media and its Ukraine animation channel PlusPlus to deliver the segments, which are “designed to bring playful early learning to children, with particular attention to the unique needs and experiences of those affected by crises,” according to Sesame Workshop. 

The videos promote math, science and social-emotional skills, as well as health and safety lessons, for children ages 3 to 8. They premiere March 27, and will be available for streaming on demand on the Kyivstar TV platform.

“As we mark one year since this crisis began in Ukraine, early learning and nurturing care for young children and caregivers continue to be an essential need,” Sesame Workshop president Sherrie Westin said. “We are proud to partner with PlusPlus to bring our beloved Muppets of Sesame Street to Ukrainian children and their families. Our new content was designed to meet this moment and build on Sesame’s long history of harnessing the power of media and Muppets to deliver playful learning, joy, and hope to young children.”

Sesame Workshop has also released a series of live-action short films about positive self-identity created with Ukrainian educational advisors and a Ukrainian production team. The videos celebrate contemporary Ukrainian identity and heritage through dance, music, arts and crafts, language and food.

"One of the main tasks of PlusPlus is to implement projects of a social nature that will inspire children, teach good habits, and help in solving certain issues. In the context of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, when the level of stress and tension is at its maximum, it is important for us to maximize efforts and do everything possible to help children and parents find strength and live emotions correctly,” Ivanna Naida, general producer of PlusPlus, said. “We are proud of our cooperation with Sesame Workshop because it is unique for Ukraine. We believe that the content that will be broadcasted as part of the project will help millions of families cope with difficulties.” 

Sesame Workshop has an initiative called “Welcome Sesame” that is designed to support children affected by conflict and crisis. Funding for “Welcome Sesame” projects in Ukraine has been provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative III. ■

Sesame Workshop, which is looking to chase some of the coronavirus clouds away, or at least help kids and parents cope with them, has begun populating its new "Caring for Each Other" initiative. 

Sesame Workshop said Monday (March 30) it is rolling out new content, including two animated PSAs encouraging hand washing and activities and advice for caregivers, who are increasingly also homebound parents.  

The PSAs, which will air on HBO (the first-run home of Sesame Street), PBS stations, and PBS Kids, are available in 19 languages--Spanish-language net Univision said it will definitely be running the spots. They include a new "Washy Wash" version of Elmo's dental ditty, "Brushy Brush," as well as spots on sneezing properly and taking care of others. 

In addition to Univision, also committed to spreading the word are the Ad Council, the clearinghouse for PSAs on commercial stations, and YouTube. 

Sesame Workshop has launched a new Sesame Street streaming app for millions of Vewd-enabled connected TV devices, including smart TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, from CE companies such as Sony, Samsung, Hisense, TiVo and Vestel, among others.

RELATED: Vewd Tunes in Smart TV OS

The app, built in partnership by Vewd and online video publisher Kaltura, features content from 48 seasons of Sesame Street as well as sections dedicated to characters from the long-running TV series, including Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster.

To streamline the process and deliver the HTML5-based app, OTT publisher Kaltura integrated with Vewd’s Snap system, they said. 

HBO will become the first run home of Big Bird as the pay service announced Thursday it has inked a five-season deal with Sesame Workshop to carry the long-running children's series Sesame Street.

The partnership will give HBO rights to air the next five seasons of the iconic children’s program on its pay service and its multiplex channels, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and HBO NOW, said network officials.

PBS, the longtime home of Sesame Street, will be able to receive new episodes of the series free to its member stations nine months after airing on HBO, according to officials.

Sesame Workshop officials said it will be able to produce almost twice as much new content as in previous seasons through the HBO deal. Sesame Workshop will produce a Sesame Street Muppet spinoff series, as well as develop a new original educational series for children. 

“Our new partnership with HBO represents a true winning public-private partnership model,” said Jeffrey D. Dunn, Sesame Workshop’s CEO in a statement. “It provides Sesame Workshop with the critical funding it needs to be able to continue production of Sesame Street and secure its nonprofit mission of helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder; it gives HBO exclusive pay cable and SVOD access to the nation’s most important and historic educational programming; and it allows Sesame Street to continue to air on PBS and reach all children, as it has for the past 45 years.”

Along with new Sesame Street episodes, HBO has also licensed over 150 library episodes of the series, according to the network.

“We are absolutely thrilled to help secure the future of Sesame Street and Sesame Workshop’s mission for the nation’s kids and families,” said Richard Plepler, Chairman and CEO of HBO, and Michael Lombardo, President, HBO Programming. “Home Box Office is committed to bringing the most groundbreaking and creative shows to its audience. Sesame Street is the most important preschool education program in the history of television. We are delighted to be a home for this extraordinary show, helping Sesame Street expand and build its franchise.”

The deal comes as OTT services such as Netflix and Amazon continue to ramp up development and distribution of original, children's-targeted series and specials.