Black Men Crowned Awards returns for its second year, Memphis men honored

Gina Butkovich, Memphis Commercial Appeal
·2 min read
1
Ten Black men will be honored as part of the second annual Black Men Crowned Awards for their accomplishments and contributions to Memphis.
Ten Black men will be honored as part of the second annual Black Men Crowned Awards for their accomplishments and contributions to Memphis.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included the wrong first name of Marlon Foster.

Ten Black men will be honored on Dec. 10 for their accomplishments and contributions to the city of Memphis as part of the second annual Black Men Crowned Awards.

The awards event, which was created by Whitehaven native and award-winning television producer Justin Hart, started last year as a way to honor and celebrate Black men and counter the negative stereotypes often seen in media.

"I wanted to turn it into an award ceremony because as a TV professional when you think about it on a broader scale, there's no award shows that are geared specifically for Black men," Hart said. "You have a show called "Black Girls Rock," on BET, you have an event called "ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood," that's something that normally takes place around Oscars weekend, and you have a lot of co-ed award shows. But what is it that Black men have to look forward to when it comes to celebrating their achievements?"

Black Men Crowned 2021:Awards honor 10 Memphis men making a difference

An anonymous committee of prominent and well-informed Memphians selected the categories and the winners. The categories are largely the same as last year, including Coach of the Year, The Grit Award, Memphis Icon, and Young King, but there are no repeat honorees.

"My goal was to make sure this panel wasn't biased, to make sure that the right people were chosen this year," Hart said. "And trust me, I wish we could honor everybody, every person in the city of Memphis, but there's only like ten categories so we wanted to make sure we lock in who we could this year."

Marlon Foster of the non-profit community organization Knowledge Quest, speaks during a panel discussion and film screening addressing problems around the Memphis housing crisis at the CMPLX in Orange Mound on Monday, April 15, 2019.
Marlon Foster of the non-profit community organization Knowledge Quest, speaks during a panel discussion and film screening addressing problems around the Memphis housing crisis at the CMPLX in Orange Mound on Monday, April 15, 2019.

The event will honor 10 men across various industries: Marlon Foster, executive director at Knowledge Quest; Havana Mix owner Robb Hunter; Shelby County Probate Court Clerk Eddie Jones Jr.; CGI Entertainment founder Curtis Givens; Rodney Saulsberry Sr., head football coach and mathematics instructor at Whitehaven High School; Van Turner Jr., former Shelby County commissioner and president of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP; Braxston Richmond, founder, and CEO of Black Foodie Finder; Marcellus Harper, executive director at Collage Dance Collective; Kenneth Worles Jr, owner of Three(i) Creative Communications; and East High School honor student Kaleb Sy.

Tickets for the event, which takes place at The Kent, can be purchased at Eventbrite. The event starts at 6 p.m. and goes on until 10 p.m.

"It's going to be a dinner-seated ceremony," Hart said. "Some powerful performances from local artists in the city of Memphis, great speakers, we have a lot of major companies that will be in attendance for the ceremony, and it'll be just an overall evening of celebrating Black men and Black excellence."

Gina Butkovich covers South Memphis, DeSoto County, storytelling, and general news. She can be reached at gina.butkovich@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Black Men Crowned Awards: Memphis men honored for making a difference