'Precious' leads nominees for NAACP Image Awards

'Precious' leads nominees for NAACP Image Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The heart-wrenching story of an illiterate and abused Harlem teen who finds hope in a classroom of misfits led the nominations announced Wednesday for the 41st annual "NAACP Image Awards":http://www.naacpimageawards.net. "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" added to its awards-season momentum with a leading eight nominations, earning nods for director "Lee Daniels":http://www.leedanielsentertainment.com/, star Gabourey Sidibe and supporting actors "Mariah Carey":http://www.mariahcarey.com/, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton and "Lenny Kravitz":http://www.lennykravitz.com/. "Precious" was also nominated for outstanding motion picture and outstanding independent film. Other movies nominated Wednesday include "'Invictus,'":http://invictusmovie.warnerbros.com/ "'Michael Jackson's This Is It,'":http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/news/michael-jacksons-it-movie-trailer "'The Blind Side'":http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/ and "'The Princess and the Frog.'":http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/ 'Blind Side' stars Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron, 'Princess' star Anika Noni Rose, and 'Invictus' star Morgan Freeman also were nominated for their performances. Sophie Okonedo ("'Skin'":http://www.skinthemovie.net/) and "Taraji P. Henson":http://taraji-henson.com/ ("'Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself'":http://www.icandobadmovie.com/) round out the best actress category, while Denzel Washington ("The Taking of Pelham 123"), Idris Elba ('Obsessed') and "Jamie Foxx":http://www.jamiefoxx.com/ ("'Law Abiding Citizen'":http://www.lawabidingcitizenfilm.com/) are up for best actor. "Jay-Z":http://www.jay-z.com/index.php tops the nominees in the music category with five nods, including outstanding male artist and album for 'The Blueprint 3.' His collaborations with "Alicia Keys":http://www.aliciakeys.com/, "Rihanna":http://www.rihannanow.com/ and "Kanye West":http://www.myspace.com/kanyewest were also recognized. Rihanna and Keys were also nominated for outstanding female artist, along with "India.Arie":http://www.indiaarie.com/, "Mary J. Blige":http://www.mjblige.com/ and "Whitney Houston":http://www.whitneyhouston.com/. Competing with Jay-Z in the male artist category are "Anthony Hamilton":http://www.anthonyhamilton.com/, "Charlie Wilson":http://www.myspace.com/charliewilson, Maxwell and "Ne-Yo":http://www.yearofthegentleman.com/. In TV categories, nominated dramas include "'Cold Case,'":http://www.cbs.com/primetime/cold_case/ "'Grey's Anatomy,'":http://abc.go.com/shows/greys-anatomy "'HawthoRNe,'":http://www.tnt.tv/series/hawthorne/ "'Lincoln Heights'":http://abcfamily.go.com/abcfamily/path/section_Shows+Lincoln-Heights/page_Detail and "'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.'":http://www.hbo.com/no1ladiesdetectiveagency/ "'Glee,'":http://www.fox.com/glee/ "''30 Rock,'":http://www.nbc.com/30-rock/ "'Ugly Betty,'":http://abc.go.com/shows/ugly-betty "'Everybody Hates Chris'":http://www.everybodyhateschris.org/ and "'Tyler Perry's House of Payne'":http://www.tbs.com/shows/houseofpayne.jsp were nominated for outstanding comedy series. The Image Awards honoring diversity in the arts will be presented Feb. 26 and broadcast live on "Fox":http://www.fox.com/. _Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed._