The 49th annual NAACP Image Awards announced Wednesday that voting is open to the public for the first time in its history.
Votes traditionally came from within the organization's membership. Voters have until Dec. 15 to make their choices at naacpimageawards.net.
The Image Awards was founded to celebrate "the accomplishments of people of color" in the arts.
Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige are tied for the most nominations with five each. Netflix has 23 nominations to lead the TV category, with OWN holding 17.
Texas fared well in the nominations.
Loretta Devine of Houston (The Carmichael Show) is nominated for outstanding actress in a comedy series and outstanding character voice-over performance (Doc McStuffins). Plano's Marsai Martin (Blackish) was nominated again for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series and outstanding performance by a youth (series, special, television movie or limited series). The Manns, which focuses on the lives of David and Tamela Mann and their tight-knit family in Mansfield, is nominated for outstanding reality program/reality competition series. Shark Tank, which features Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, is also nominated.
Khalid, who graduated from high school in El Paso, is nominated for outstanding new artist for his American Teen. Houston rocket Beyonce is nominated for outstanding female artist.
Other nominations of note include News One Now, which was just canceled by TV One. The show holds a nomination for outstanding news/information (series or special) while host Roland Martin holds a nom for outstanding host.
Tough morning. Had to tell our NBC News Channel crew that @tvonetv #NewsOneNow is ending. Lot of my white staffers were moved to tears. Why am I saying that? They expressed how much they learned about Black America working with us for 4 years. This show changed lives, folks.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) December 7, 2017
Union leader and freedom fighter William Lucy will receive the Chairman's Award. Lucy worked with Martin Luther King Jr. when the sanitation workers went on strike in Memphis in 1968. He also fought against apartheid in South Africa, co-founding the Free South Africa Movement.
The awards show will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Jan. 15 on TV One. The red carpet will air at 7.
The show is timed to cap a day of service in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.
