Naacp Image Awards

The Academy Award nominations won't be announced until Feb. 9, but Oscar season is in full swing this week in Hollywood. From major studios to small independents, marketing departments have launched aggressive advertising campaigns touting their films in the two major Hollywood trade papers. Whether the films deserve an Oscar nod is another question. "This is the time of year when everyone wants to look like they're in the game," said Lynne Segall, the Hollywood Reporter's associate publisher.

TELEVISION Kelley Left Out: HBO's "Sex and the City" scored two of five nominations for the best-written comedy series episode in the annual Writers Guild Awards announced Tuesday. Conspicuously absent from the TV and radio nomination list was writer-producer David E. Kelley, whose "The Practice" (ABC) and "Ally McBeal" (Fox) won Emmys in September for best drama and comedy series, respectively. Other comedy series nominees were NBC's "Frasier" and "Friends" and ABC's "Dharma & Greg."

She has been more famous, over a longer time span, than any other female singer. She sits in the living room of her bright, airy Beverly Hills home, dressed in a simple white outfit, slimmer than she has been since her teens. Suspended from her necklace is a jeweled golden ball, a gift from Jacqueline Picasso. She is surrounded by countless artifacts attesting to her successes: Grammy awards, NAACP Image Awards, Down Beat trophies (she won her first in 1937). Yet Ella Fitzgerald, who will turn 71 Tuesday, remains amazingly unable to acknowledge the full measure of her fame.

MOTION PICTURE Motion Picture " Beasts of the Southern Wild " (Fox Searchlight Pictures) " Django Unchained " (The Weinstein Company) "Flight" (Paramount Pictures) "Red Tails" (Lucasfilm) "Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" (Lionsgate) Actor in a Motion Picture Denzel Washington - "Flight" (Paramount Pictures) Jamie Foxx - "Django Unchained" (The Weinstein Company) Morgan Freeman - "The Magic of Belle Isle" (Magnolia Pictures) Suraj Sharma - " Life of Pi " (20th Century Fox)

"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" dominated the nominations for the 41st NAACP Image Awards on Wednesday morning, earning eight nods: best film, best director for Lee Daniels, screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher, best actress for Gabourey Sidibe, supporting actress for Mariah Carey, Mo'Nique and Paula Patton, and supporting actor for Lenny Kravitz. Competing with "Precious" in the best picture category are "The Blind Side," "Invictus," "Michael Jackson's This Is It" and "The Princess and the Frog."

 "Red Tails," the World War II drama about the Tuskegee airmen, was named best picture at the 44th NAACP Image Awards on Friday evening at the Shrine Auditorium. But the evening's biggest winner was actress Kerry Washington. She won for actress in a TV drama series for ABC's "Scandal," supporting actress in a motion picture for "Django Unchained" and the NAACP President's Award in recognition of special achievement and public service. Denzel Washington won the Image Award for actor in a motion picture for "Flight," while Viola Davis earned the top actress award for "Won't Back Down.

For the fourth time in the 23-year history of its Image Awards, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People said Wednesday that it was unable to field a category of best actress in a motion picture because there were too few candidates. "This appalling situation again highlights the imbalance and irresponsibility of the film industry," said Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the organization's Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch.

The Beverly Hills-Hollywood branch of the NAACP announced a roster of winners of its annual Image Awards today that appears to honor America's ever-growing black middle-class. Oprah Winfrey, queen of the afternoon talk shows, was named the NAACP's "entertainer of the year." Winfrey, along with Sammy Davis Jr., Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, was also named to the Image Awards Hall of Fame.