The NAACP has announced the nominees for the 38th Annual Image Awards. The NAACP Image Awards honors projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts in television, recording, literature and motion pictures. The theme of this year's show is "Youth Create Change.

Even in 2007, most of television's soaps are severely lacking in diversity. Therefore, the Image Awards do not feature nominations for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series. Instead, the awards focus on individual performers within the shows.

The nominees do not tend to change much from year to year. Four of the five nominees in the Outstanding Actor field were nominated last year; all five are previous nominees. The Outstanding Actress field, however, sees three new entrants and the surprising omission of previous winner Victoria Rowell (Drucilla Winters, The Young and the Restless). The "omission," however, turns out to be not that surprising at all: after 11 Image Awards wins, Rowell has decided to remove herself from contention. Meanwhile, Passions star Tracey Ross (Eve Russell) has earned a eight consecutive nomination for her work on the NBC series.

The Young and the Restless has routinely dominated the Image Awards. The wins seemingly solidify Y&R's claims that its show features the most prominent African-American cast in daytime television. Actor Shemar Moore (ex-Malcolm, Y&R) was a winner for his work on The Young and the Restless for five consecutive years.

Here is the listing of soap-related nominees for this year's NAACP Image Awards. For a complete listing of all nominees, click here.

Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series

Antonio Sabato Jr. (Dante Damiano, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Bryton McClure (Devon Hamilton, The Young and the Restless)
Michael B. Jordan (Reggie Montgomery, All My Children)
James Reynolds (Abe Carver, Days of our Lives)
Kristoff St. John (Neil Winters, The Young and the Restless)

Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series

Christel Khalil (Lily Winters, The Young and the Restless)
Davetta Sherwood (Lily Winters, The Young and the Restless)
Renee Elise Goldsberry (Evangeline Williamson, One Life to Live)
Tracey Ross (Eve Russell, Passions)
Yvonna Wright (Melissande Boudreau, Guiding Light)

The 38th NAACP Image Awards will air live on Friday, March 2nd (8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on FOX.

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