For the first time in six years, the Black Reel Awards will combine its film and TV honors ceremonies, with the temporary change due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
The seventh annual Black Reel Television Awards (BoltsTV) ceremony was initially scheduled for Aug. 14, but will now be combined with the Black Reel Awards on Jan. 13, 2024.
Representatives for the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF), which hosts the Black Reels, explained that temporarily rescheduling the summer celebration “gives the opportunity for the resolution of the strikes to occur and allow for the presence and participation of all the honorees.”
“The best part about recognizing excellence in anything is giving those who have done the work the opportunity to shine,” stated Tim Gordon, the Black Reel Awards’ founder and executive director. “We felt announcing the winners on our site or in a press release would not appropriately honor the fantastic work of those in our entertainment community.”
The Black Reels are an annual awards ceremony which salutes the excellence of African Americans and the cinematic achievements of the African diaspora in the global television industry, as assessed by the FAAAF’s voting membership. The TV awards launched in 2015 as a part of the same celebration as the movie awards and in August 2017 spun off into a separate ceremony.
Among the most nominated programs for the TV honors are the Peacock limited series “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” with 18 nods, followed by ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” with 16 nominations and FX’s “Atlanta” and Prime Video’s “Swarm” tied with eighth. “Atlanta” creator Donald Glover leads the individual nominees with five nominations, with “Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson hot on his heels with three nominations (including one for guest hosting “Saturday Night Live”).
The eighth annual Black Reel Television Awards are planned for Aug. 12, 2024.
