TV and radio host Steve Harvey has decided to move his ten-year-old philanthropic Neighborhood Awards from Las Vegas to Atlanta.
It was once called the Hoodie Awards but the name was changed this year to the more generic sounding Neighborhood Awards.
For those unfamiliar with Harvey's effort, here's how it's summarized on the website:
The show honors local businesses, religious/neighborhood leaders, churches, and high schools for their contributions as well as excellence within their own neighborhoods. This award show is best described as the Oscars with an urban flair. The Neighborhood Awards features a diverse and ultra talented group of celebrities, actors, athletes, and recording artists who present 12 non-traditional awards to the stars of our neighborhood.
I received a confirmation from Harvey's right-hand man and co-creator Rushion McDonald, who said more details about location and time will come out in early 2014. [UPDATE 2/4/14: The event will be August 7-10 at the Georgia World Congress Center with a projected attendance of 150,000.] Normally, the awards are held in August and he gets major sponsors to help out including Ford, Wal-Mart and State Farm.
In past years, entertainment has included Chaka Khan, New Edition, Kem, George Wallace and Fantasia. Some of the categories: best church, best soul food place and best beauty salon. Reviews of the event on Ticketmaster were mostly positive, garnering 4.4 out of 5 stars among 310 reviewers.
Harvey moved to Atlanta a few years back but last year began spending a good part of his year taping his popular syndicated talk show in Chicago. He still tapes "Family Feud" here during the summer and his base of operations for his syndicated morning radio show (heard locally on Majic 107.5/97.5) remains here.
Atlanta has been home to the BET Hip Hop Awards for many years but has lost the Soul Train Awards to Vegas and the Dove Awards back to Nashville.
Here's a segment from the 2013 event:
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In other Harvey news, he will be inducted into the National Assocation of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in April, 2014.
"Steve Harvey entertains people of all ages with his unique and humorous perspective on life," said NAB Executive Vice President of Radio John David in a press release. "Mr. Harvey's dedication and talent have earned him great success, and we are thrilled to induct him into NAB's Broadcasting Hall of Fame."
His radio show airs on 70 stations and reaches six million listeners weekly. His TV talk show is the most successful among all freshman and sophomore talk shows.
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