Los Angeles, CA, July 15, 2005 – The third annual AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Awards (The AMEEs), celebrating the artistry, integrity, diversity of AFTRA members in the areas of entertainment, sound recordings, broadcasting took place the opening night of the Convention, Thursday, July 14, at the Hollywood Museum.

Award recipients were: Susan Flannery, Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning star of the CBS daytime series, “The Bold and The Beautiful”; Patti Austin, world-famous vocalist, composer, recording artist, and Grammy Award nominee; Robert Hager, NBC News correspondent, who has reported from Vietnam, Berlin, the Middle East, and across the globe for more than four decades; Don Hastings, actor/writer, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award  from the National Academy of Television  Arts and Sciences, who celebrates 43 years on the daytime series, “As The World Turns”; rising

	Amber Tamblyn, winner of one of this year's AFTRA AIMEE Awards. Click for larger image.

star of television and film, Emmy and Golden Glove nominated, Amber Tamblyn, critically acclaimed for her starring role on the AFTRA TV series, “Joan of Arcadia.”

Award winning news broadcaster and 2004 AMEE honoree, Bob Edwards, hosted the ceremony. Veteran actor Russ Tamblyn presented the award to his daughter, Amber, and other presenters included National Board members Patrika Darbo from “Days of Our Lives,” and Jason George, currently starring on the hit UPN series, “Eve.”

At the same event, daytime drama legend and Emmy-Award winning producer William J. Bell was posthumously honored with the 2005 American Scene “Crystal” Award for his groundbreaking work in reflecting the diversity of the American scene in daytime television. “In almost fifty years of writing and co-creating daytime dramas with his wife, Lee Philip Bell, Bill Bell stood at the summit of his art,” observed President Connolly.

Recognizing television, radio, and the recording industry producers who portray the country’s diversity in a positive, balanced and realistic manner, the American Scene Awards were presented today during AFTRA’s 60^th National Convention. ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television received the Television Entertainment Programming Award for creating a new form of diverse and innovative primetime programming: the Micro-Mini Series. NBC Studios’ “Passions” won the Daytime Drama Award; Los Angeles’ KCBS/KCAL won the Television News Station Award.

	Dee Thompson accepts AFTRA American Scene award on behalf of WPXI-TV. Click for larger image.

Pittsburgh’s WPXI-TV won the Documentary News Feature Award for “Young, Gifted, and Black: Pittsburgh’s African American Achievers.” The following honorees will receive their Awards in St. Louis, Missouri, in the fall: The Experiment Agency will be honored for two radio public service announcements and KMOV-TV for its Diversity Awareness Partnership. Finally, prominent San Francisco broadcaster Belva Davis was honored for her professional and personal contributions to AFTRA and broadcast journalism. Ms. Davis was the first African American news broadcaster on the West Coast. Among her many awards are six Emmys and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Henceforth, the Television News Station Award will be named for her.

The Convention will adjourn on Saturday night.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – affiliated with the AFL-CIO – is a diverse national union representing nearly 80,000 professional performers, broadcasters, and recording artists in 32 Locals throughout the country. AFTRA members work as actors, broadcast journalists, dancers, singers, announcers, hosts, comedians, and disc jockeys in aspects of the media industries including television and radio, sound recordings, commercials, non-broadcast/industrials, interactive games, and the Internet. For more information, visit AFTRA online at www.aftra.com.