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February 25, 2004

Board To Consider Changes In Image Award Nominating Process
Board of Directors to consider rejecting Image Award entries that do not fit positive image The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Board of Directors has voted to consider changes in the Image Award nominating process to prevent the nomination of individuals that do not meet new guidelines currently under review. During its quarterly meeting in New York on February 21, 2004, Board members approved a motion to review changes that would include the makeup of the Committee of 300, the group that chooses the nominees. The committee will also consider inserting a morals clause in the nominating requirement.

Julian Bond, Board chair, said, "We want to set up a procedure for the Committee of 300 and the president and chief executive officer to initiate procedures to protect and preserve the image of the Image Awards."

Under a proposal introduced by President and CEO Kweisi Mfume, the Committee of 300 would be composed entirely of NAACP leaders and members. Currently the Committee is split evenly between NAACP members and members of the television, recording, movie and publishing industry.

Mfume said: "It is important that we bring the nominating process completely under the control of the association for the first time in the 35-year history of the awards program. For some time it has concerned me that too often Image Award nominees fail to meet the standards for positive images on which the program was created. With today's action by the Board I am confident that in the future we will have a better control of the nominating process. It's important that Image Award nominees be able to do more than sing, dance, write and act."

NAACP members in a secret ballot choose the final Image Award winners, who are announced during the taping of the 35th annual Image Awards program on March 6. The special program airs on FOX television on March 11.

The NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities and monitor equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.