2016 Image Awards Nominations - Literature and Recording Categories

The NAACP announced nominees for its 47th annual Image Awards, which celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in Television, Recording (Music), Literary (Books), Motion Picture, Documentary (film and television), Writing (for film and television), Directing (for film and television), and Animated/CGI (for film and television).  Winners will be announced February 5, 2016 during a ceremony airing live on TV One.

2016 / 47th NAACP Image Awards nominees - Literary and Music Recording categories:

LITERATURE
Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
“Driving the King” – Ravi Howard (HarperCollins/Harper)
“Ghost Summer: Stories” – Tananarive Due (Prime Books)
“Mama’s Boy” – ReShonda Tate Billingsley (Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster)
“Stand Your Ground” – Victoria Christopher Murrary (Touchstone)
“Under the Udala Trees” – Chinelo Okparanta (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction

• “50 Billion Dollar Boss: African American Women Sharing Stories of Success in Entrepreneurship and Leadership” – Kathey Porter (Author), Andrea Hoffman(Author), (Palgrave Macmillan)
• “Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America” – Jill Leovy (Spiegel & Grau)
• “SHOWDOWN: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America” – Wil Haygood (Alfred A. Knopf)
• “Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga” – Pamela Newkirk (HarperCollins/Amistad)
• “The Light of the World” – Elizabeth Alexander (Grand Central Publishing)

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author

• “Between The World and Me” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau)
• “The Fishermen” – Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown & Company)
• “The Star Side of Bird Hill” – Naomi Jackson (Penguin Press)
• “The Turner House” – Angela Flournoy (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• “The Wind In The Reeds: A Storm, A Play And The City That Could Not Be Broken” – Wendell Pierce (Author), Rod Dreher (Author), (Riverhead Books)

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/ Auto-Biography

• “After the Dance: My Life with Marvin Gaye” – Jan Gaye (Author), David Ritz (With), (HarperCollins/Amistad)
• “Between The World and Me” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (Spiegel & Grau)
• “One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Line in New York” – Arthur Browne (Beacon Press)
• “Power Forward: My Presidential Education” – Reggie Love (Simon & Schuster)
• “Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person” – Shonda Rhimes (Simon & Schuster)

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional

• “Big Words to Little Me: Tips and Advice for the Younger Self” – Sakina Ibrahim (Author), Jessie Lee (With), (Createspace (Self published))
• “Free Your Mind: An African American Guide to Meditation and Freedom” – Cortez R. Rainey (CreateSpace)
• “Grandbaby Cakes: Modern Recipes, Vintage Charm, Soulful Memories” – Jocelyn Delk Adams (Agate Surrey)
• “Keep Calm… It’s Just Real Estate: Your No-Stress Guide To Buying A Home” – Egypt Sherrod (Perseus/Running Press)
• “Soul Food Love: Healthy Recipes Inspired by One Hundred Years of Cooking in a Black Family” – Alice Randall (Author), Caroline Randall Williams (Author), (Clarkson Potter)

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
“Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” – Ross Gay (University of Pittsburgh Press)
“How to Be Drawn” – Terrance Hayes (Penguin Books / Penguin Random House)
“Reconnaissance” – Carl Phillips (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
“Redbone” – Mahogany L. Browne (Willow Books)
“Wild Hundreds” – Nate Marshall (University of Pittsburgh Press)

Outstanding Literary Work – Children

• “Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, Inspired by Historical Facts” – Nikki Grimes (Author), Michele Wood (Illustrator), (Orchard Books / Scholastic)
• “Gordon Parks How the Photographer Captured Black and White America” – Carole Boston Weatherford (Author), Jamey Christoph (Illustrator), (Albert Whitman & Company)
• “Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box” – Michael S. Bandy (Author), Eric Stein (Author), James E. Ransome (Illustrator), (Candlewick Press)
• “If You Plant a Seed” – Kadir Nelson (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
• “New Shoes” – Susan Lynn Meyer (Author), Eric Velasquez (Illustrator), (Holiday House)

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens

• “Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound” – Andrea Davis Pinkney (Roaring Brook Press)
• “Stella By Starlight” – Sharon Draper (Simon & Schuster)
• “Untwine” – Edwidge Danticat (Scholastic Press)
• “X: A Novel” – Ilyasah Shabazz (Author), Kekla Magoon (With), (Candlewick Press)
• “You Are Wonderfully Made: 12 Life-Changing Principles for Teen Girls to Embrace” – Gwen Richardson (Author), Sylvia Daye Richardson (Author), (Cushcity Communications)

RECORDING

Outstanding New Artist
Andra Day (Warner Bros. Records)
Judith Hill (NPG Records)
Jussie Smollett (Columbia Records)
The Weeknd (Republic Records)
Yazz (Columbia Records)

Outstanding Male Artist
Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
Kendrick Lamar (Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
Pharrell Williams (Columbia Records/iamOTHER)
The Weeknd (Republic Records)
Tyrese Gibson (Voltron Recordz)

Outstanding Female Artist
Janet Jackson (Rhythm Nation/BMG)
Jazmine Sullivan (RCA Records)
Jill Scott (Atlantic Records)
Lalah Hathaway (Hathaway Entertainment/Entertainment One)
Lauryn Hill (RCA Records)

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration

• “Conqueror” – Empire Cast feat. Estelle & Jussie Smollett (Columbia Records)
• “Hamilton: An American Musical” – Original Broadway Cast (Atlantic Records)
• “No Sleeep” – Janet Jackson feat. J. Cole (Rhythm Nation/BMG)
• “One Man Can Change The World” – Big Sean feat. Kanye West and John Legend (G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings)
• “Sound & Color” – Alabama Shakes (ATO Records)

Outstanding Jazz Album

• “BrotherLEE Love: Celebrating Lee Morgan” – Terell Stafford Quintet (Capri Records)
• “Dee Dee’s Feathers” – Dee Dee Bridgewater, Irvin Mayfield, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (Okeh)
• “Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4” – Miles Davis (Columbia/Legacy Recordings)
• “The Complete Concert By The Sea” – Erroll Garner (Legacy Recordings/Octave Music Publishing Corporation)
• The Epic” – Kamasi Washington (Brainfeeder)

Outstanding Gospel Album – (Traditional or Contemporary)

• “A Different Place” – Kim Burrell (Shanachie Entertainment)
• “It’s Personal” – Tina Campbell (Gee Tree Creative)
• “Losing My Religion” – Kirk Franklin (RCA Inspiration)
• “The Gospel According To Jazz – Chapter IV” – Kirk Whalum (Mack Avenue Records, Rendezvous, Top Drawer Records)
• “You Shall Live” – Marvin Sapp (RCA Inspiration)

Outstanding Music Video
“Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd (Republic Records)
“Freedom” – Pharrell Williams (Columbia Records/iamOTHER)
“No Sleeep” – Janet Jackson feat. J. Cole (Rhythm Nation/BMG)
“Shame” – Tyrese Gibson (Voltron Recordz)
“Sound & Color” – Alabama Shakes (ATO Records)

Outstanding Song – Traditional
“Back Together” – Jill Scott (Atlantic Records)
“Everytime I’m With You” – Seal (Reprise Records)
“Feeling Good” – Lauryn Hill (RCA Records)
“Goodnight Kisses” – Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
“Let It Burn” – Jazmine Sullivan (RCA Records)

Outstanding Album
“Beauty Behind the Madness” – The Weeknd (Republic Records)
“Empire (Original Soundtrack from Season One)” – Empire Cast (Columbia Records)
“Forever Charlie” – Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
“Unbreakable” – Janet Jackson (Rhythm Nation/BMG)
“Woman” – Jill Scott (Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Song – Contemporary
“Conqueror” – Empire Cast feat. Estelle & Jussie Smollett (Columbia)
“Freedom” – Pharrell Williams (Columbia Records/iamOTHER)
“No Sleeep” – Janet Jackson feat. J. Cole (Rhythm Nation/BMG)
“Unbreakable” – Janet Jackson (Rhythm Nation/BMG)
“You’re So Beautiful” – Empire Cast feat. Jussie Smollett & Yazz (Columbia Records)

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