National Council Of La Raza – 2002 Alma Awards Nominations.

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), and its President Raul Yzaguirre announced the nominations for the 2002 ALMA Awards. The winners will be revealed during the two-hour Awards special, helmed by executive producer by Ken Ehrlich, and will air on June 1, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm (ET/PT) on ABC.

The ALMA (American Latino Media Arts) Awards, honors outstanding artistic achievement and the enhancement of the Latino image in entertainment. The Awards will tape in Los Angeles at the historic Shrine Auditorium on May 18 and will feature appearances by the hottest names in film, television and music.

Throughout the year, the NCLR ALMA Awards Rules and Qualification Committee maintains active files of reviews and descriptions of Latino-themed performances in eligible film categories. These include Latino-directed, and Latino-written English-language feature films, and Latino performances in English-language feature films. NCLR also qualifies television entries in categories such as prime-time English-language television programs with relevance to the Latino community and/or Latino-written, -directed, or -produced shows. In addition, several music categories are also qualified.

A call for entries is made and a Blue Ribbon Committee composed of subcommittees from industry-specific disciplines including acting, directing, writing, music, and production, considers all submissions. The NCLR ALMA Awards has developed partnerships with the key entertainment guilds and their respective Latino committees/memberships to assist with the selection and Guild members serve on each panel. Each subcommittee is guided by the NCLR ALMA Awards General Rules when selecting the nominees.

Once the nominees have been selected by the Blue Ribbon Committees, the list of nominees, is sent by ballot to the NCLR ALMA Voting Academy that consists of Blue Ribbon Committee members and past award recipients and nominees. Results from the balloting process are tabulated and reported by the accounting firm of Grant Thornton to determine the 2002 NCLR ALMA Award recipients. The only exceptions are the Special Awards, including Lifetime Achievement, and People’s Choice Awards of which are selected through separate processes.

NCLR was founded in 1968 to improve life opportunities for Hispanic Americans and represents over 275 local affiliates, community-based organizations that provide housing, education, immigration, and social services to more than four million Latinos annually in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and a broader network of more than 30,000 groups and individuals. The ALMA Awards, the only two-hour Latino-themed primetime awards show for film, music, and television on any of the four major networks, were created as part of NCLR’s strategy to promote accurate, fair, and positive images of Latinos in the media.

To view a list of nominees go to http://www.almaawards.com