# NAACP Image Awards

The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 categories of the Image Awards are voted on by the NAACP members. Honorary awards (similar to the Academy Honorary Award) have also been included, such as the President's Award, the Chairman's Award, the Entertainer of the Year, the Activist of the Year, and the Hall of Fame Award. Beyoncé is the All-Time leading winner with 25 wins as a solo artist.

## History

The award ceremony was conceived by Toni Vaz during an April 1967 NAACP branch meeting in Beverly Hills. “I called it the Image Awards because I wanted a better image for the people who worked in the industry,” Vaz said. “I wanted to put this award show together to thank the producers for giving good roles to people of color.” The branch president liked the idea, Vaz said, but when she made follow-up calls to members and friends to enlist volunteers for an awards show committee, no one volunteered. Vaz reached out to Black A-listers such as Sammy Davis Jr., who hosted the first meeting of the NAACP Beverly Hills Hollywood Branch in his home; Sidney Poitier, whom she had worked with on the movie Porgy and Bess; and the late Ivan Dixon, an actor, director and producer of Hogan's Heroes at the time. Vaz also wrote letters to secure sponsors for the event and booked the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the first NAACP Image Awards show was held on August 13, 1967.
The ceremony was presented by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr. and Willis Edwards, all three of whom were leaders of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch. While it was first taped for television by NBC (which broadcast the awards from 1987 to 1994 in January, on weeks when Saturday Night Live wasn't airing a new episode), it would only be broadcast in primetime beginning in 1996. Due to changes in timing of the awards, there was no awards ceremony held the following years: 1973, as the timing was changed to honor a full calendar year early in the following year (reverted to a "late-in-year" ceremony for 1981–1990); 1991, as the timing returned too late in a calendar year to honor that same year; 1995.
The first live broadcast of the awards, also on the Fox Network, occurred in 2007 for its 38th edition (up until 2007, the ceremony had been broadcast with tape delay) and the annual ceremonies usually take place in or around the Los Angeles area, in February or early March. The 44th edition aired on NBC. Sources have had trouble verifying the winners in the top categories from 1983 to 1995.
The New York firm Society Awards manufactures the trophy since its redesign in 2008.

### Cultural impact

The NAACP Image awards has been widely accepted and dubbed as the "Black Oscars/Emmy/Grammy" award show from the African-American and Latino community, as it is an important prestigious award celebrating artists and entertainers of color that may have been overlooked from by the mainstream film, television, theater and music award counterparts (E.G.O.T.) due to racial seclusion or lack of interests from film and television studios. Whereas, it created more exposure for content on a wide spectrum of urban media versus other awards shows where they can be celebrated and appreciated. Actors such as Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Taraji P. Henson and many others expressed the differences of not being visually seen by the industry's standard and how artists and entertainers should look to the NAACP Image Awards as the highest achievement. The campaign of #OscarSoWhite began as a protest after seeing the lack of people of color being nominated or win in major categories at the Academy Awards. Since then, minor adjustments have been made for inclusion as more people of color have become nominated and win at the mainstream prestigious award ceremonies. Today, the NAACP Image Awards is what many people of color look forward to as "the one that matters".

### Event dates and locations

| # | Date | Host(s) | Location |
| 1st | August 13, 1967 | | The Beverly Hilton |
| 2nd | September 22, 1968 | | The Beverly Hilton |
| 3rd | October 11, 1969 | | |
| 4th | November 15, 1970 | | |
| 5th | November 21, 1971 | | |
| 6th | November 18, 1972 | | |
| | 1973 - not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year | 1973 - not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year | 1973 - not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year |
| 7th | January 19, 1974 | | Hollywood Palladium |
| 8th | January 18, 1975 | | |
| 9th | February 7, 1976 | | |
| 10th | April 24, 1977 | | |
| 11th | June 9, 1978 | | |
| 12th | January 27, 1979 | | Hollywood Palladium |
| 13th | January 27, 1980 | Louis Gossett Jr./Rita Moreno/Ted Lange/Benjamin Hooks/Valenti | |
| 14th | December 5, 1981 | Robert Guillaume (note: timing changed, achievements of 1980/81 were honored late in 1981) | Hollywood Palladium |
| 15th | December 1982 | Jayne Kennedy/George Peppard/Michael Warren | Hollywood Palladium |
| 16th | December 4, 1983 | | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion |
| 17th | December 1984 | | |
| 18th | December 1985 | | |
| 19th | December 13, 1986 | Debbie Allen/Denzel Washington | |
| 20th | December 1987 | Denzel Washington/Debbie Allen | |
| 21st | December 1988 | | |
| 22nd | December 9, 1989 | | |
| 23rd | December 9, 1990 | | |
| | 1991 - not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year | 1991 - not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year | 1991 - not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year |
| 24th | January 11, 1992 | | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 25th | January 16, 1993 | | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 26th | January 5, 1994 | | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| | 1995 - not presented, financial concerns | 1995 - not presented, financial concerns | 1995 - not presented, financial concerns |
| 27th | April 6, 1996 | Whitney Houston/Denzel Washington | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 28th | February 8, 1997 | Arsenio Hall, Patti LaBelle | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 29th | February 14, 1998 | Vanessa L. Williams, Gregory Hines | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 30th | February 14, 1999 | Mariah Carey, Blair Underwood | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 31st | February 12, 2000 | Diana Ross | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 32nd | February 23, 2001 | Chris Tucker | Universal Amphitheatre |
| 33rd | March 3, 2002 | Chris Tucker | Universal Amphitheatre |
| 34th | March 8, 2003 | Cedric the Entertainer | Universal Amphitheatre |
| 35th | March 6, 2004 | Tracee Ellis Ross/Golden Brooks/Persia White/Jill Marie Jones | Universal Amphitheatre |
| 36th | March 19, 2005 | Chris Tucker | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion |
| 37th | February 26, 2006 | Cuba Gooding Jr. | Shrine Auditorium |
| 38th | March 2, 2007 | LL Cool J | Shrine Auditorium |
| 39th | February 14, 2008 | D. L. Hughley | Shrine Auditorium |
| 40th | February 12, 2009 | Halle Berry/Tyler Perry | Shrine Auditorium |
| 41st | February 26, 2010 | Anika Noni Rose/Hill Harper | Shrine Auditorium |
| 42nd | March 4, 2011 | Wayne Brady/Holly Robinson Peete | Shrine Auditorium |
| 43rd | February 17, 2012 | Sanaa Lathan/Anthony Mackie | Shrine Auditorium |
| 44th | February 1, 2013 | Steve Harvey | Shrine Auditorium |
| 45th | February 22, 2014 | Anthony Anderson | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 46th | February 6, 2015 | Anthony Anderson | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 47th | February 5, 2016 | Anthony Anderson | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 48th | February 11, 2017 | Anthony Anderson | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 49th | January 15, 2018 | Anthony Anderson | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 50th | March 30, 2019 | Anthony Anderson | Dolby Theatre |
| 51st | February 22, 2020 | Anthony Anderson | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 52nd | March 27, 2021 | Anthony Anderson | Virtual |
| 53rd | February 26, 2022 | Anthony Anderson | Virtual |
| 54th | February 25, 2023 | Queen Latifah | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |
| 55th | March 16, 2024 | Queen Latifah | Shrine Auditorium |
| 56th | February 22, 2025 | Deon Cole | Pasadena Civic Auditorium |

## Controversies

In 1987, the NAACP came under fire for dropping their Best Actress award for that year. They defended this position, citing a lack of meaningful roles for Black women. In 1990, they were criticized once again for not awarding Best Actress. This was the fourth time it could not find enough nominees for Best Actress. Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the organization's Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch, said, "The [film] industry has yet to show diversity or present realistic leading roles for African-American women."
In several instances, nominees have been perceived as “undeserving” or “unworthy” of recognition by members of the media, fellow celebrities, as well as the general public; in their own defense, some NAACP representatives have stated that the overall quality of an artist's work is the salient issue. This would render certain factors, such as criminal charges or the nominee's past, being inconsequential in this regard. For example, in 1994, rapper Tupac Shakur was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (for Poetic Justice), despite sexual assault charges being filed against him in December 1993. Furthermore, Shakur had been accused of felony counts of forcible sodomy and unlawful detainment in New York City; a woman alleged that he and two male accomplices held her captive, in a hotel room, and restricted her movements, holding her down as a fourth accomplice sodomized her. Shakur was also indicted for two counts of aggravated assault, in an unrelated incident, in which he supposedly shot and wounded two off-duty police officers. The same year, Martin Lawrence was criticized for winning Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series for Martin, after the show was maligned for its sexual content. In 2004, R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory was nominated for Outstanding Album while he was under indictment for charges related to child pornography.
Other nominees have faced controversy due to their portrayals of major civil rights figures. In 2003, the comedy film Barbershop received five nominations, including Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Supporting Actor (for Cedric the Entertainer's performance); during the film, Cedric's character makes pejorative remarks about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jackson, and Jesse Jackson. This content elicited criticism, including Parks' refusal to attend the ceremony. Hip-hop group OutKast received six nominations in 2004, and criticism soon followed—for both them and the NAACP—due to the name of one of their songs being “Rosa Parks”. The song had resulted in Parks suing OutKast for defamation over use of her name.

## Award categories
### Motion picture

* Outstanding Motion Picture
* Outstanding Documentary
* Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
* Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
* Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
* Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
* Outstanding International Motion Picture
* Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
* Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture
* Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture
* Outstanding Character Voice Performance – Motion Picture
* Outstanding Short-Form (animated)

### Music

* Outstanding New Artist
* Outstanding Female Artist
* Outstanding Male Artist
* Outstanding Duo or Group
* Outstanding Jazz Artist
* Outstanding Jazz Album
* Outstanding Jazz Vocal Album
* Outstanding Gospel Artist
* Outstanding Gospel Album (Traditional or Contemporary)
* Outstanding Music Video
* Outstanding Song (Traditional and Contemporary)
* Outstanding Album

### Literature

* Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
* Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction
* Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography
* Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
* Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
* Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional
* Outstanding Literary Work – Children
* Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens

### Podcast

* Outstanding News and Information Podcast
* Outstanding Lifestyle/Self-Help Podcast
* Outstanding Society and Culture Podcast
* Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
* Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Podcast

### Television

* Outstanding Drama Series
* Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
* Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
* Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
* Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
* Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
* Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
* Outstanding Children's Program
* Outstanding Comedy Series
* Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
* Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
* Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
* Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
* Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
* Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series
* Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
* Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
* Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
* Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited-series)
* Outstanding News/Information – Series or Special
* Outstanding Talk Series
* Outstanding Variety – Series or Special
* Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Television)

### Special awards

* Vanguard Award
* Chairman's Award
* President's Award
* Hall of Fame Award
* Entertainer of the Year
* Activist of the Year
* Social Media Personality of the Year