Beverly Hills, Calif. -- Disney Channel, Showtime and HBO were multicategory award winners at the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications’ Vision Awards show held Tuesday night at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel here.
Actress Raven Symone was also a multiwinner during the 13th annual awards show, which pays homage to exceptional, multiethnic programming in cable. The 21-year old actress took home the home the association’s North Star Award, which honors an individual or organization for their exceptional efforts to reflect diversity.
Her Disney series, That’s So Raven, also took home honors in the children’s category, tying Black Family Channel’s Lisa Knight and the Roundtable.
Disney’s original movie, Cheetah Girls 2 -- in which Symone starred and served as executive producer -- won in the best-music-video category for the song “Strut.”
Showtime swept the best-actress categories, with Weeds' Tonye Patano and Dexter's Lauren Velezwinning the comedy and drama awards, respectively. The pay service’s Sleeper Cell also won a Vision Award for best dramatic series.
HBO’s Tsunami: The Aftermath won the best original movie/special award, while its Spike Lee: When the Levees Broke garnered the best documentary honor.
Other 2007 Vision Award winners included:
• Best animation show: The Backyardigans, Nickelodeon;
• Best actor in a comedy show: Carlos Mencia, Mind of Mencia, Comedy Central;
• Best actor in a drama series: Forest Whitaker, The Shield, FX;
• Best comedy series: Comic View with Sheryl Underwood,BET;
• Best foreign-language show: El Reto Final Nissan, Fox Sports en Español;
• Best news/informational show: Race & Hollywood: Black Images on Film, Turner Classic Movies;
• Best reality show: Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance, Oxygen; and
• Legacy Award: Robbi Reed, casting director.
