NAACP Image Awards

The NAACP Image Award 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, music, and literature. Similar to other awards, like the Oscars and the Grammys, the over 40 categories of the Image Awards are voted on by the award organization's members (in this case, 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, and the Hall of Fame Award.

NAACP Image Award
51st NAACP Image Awards
Awarded for	Excellence in film, television, music, and literature
Country	United States
Presented by	NAACP
First awarded	August 13, 1967 (1967-08-13)
Website	www.naacpimageawards.net

History

The award ceremony was first presented on August 13, 1967,[1] and it was first nationally televised in 1994 on the Fox Network. There was no awards ceremony in 1973 or 1995. The first live broadcast of the event, 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, United States 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.

Event dates and locations

#	Date	Host(s)	Location
1st[1]	August 13, 1967		The Beverly Hilton
2nd[2]	September 22, 1968		The Beverly Hilton
3rd[3]	October 11, 1969
4th[4]	November 15, 1970
5th[5]	November 21, 1971
6th[6]	November 18, 1972
	January, 1973
	January 19, 1974		Hollywood Palladium
	January 1975
	1976
	April 1977
	June 1978
	January 27, 1979		Hollywood Palladium
[7]	January 27, 1980	Louis Gossett Jr./Rita Moreno/Ted Lange/Benjamin Hooks/Valenti
	December 5, 1981	Robert Guillaume	Hollywood Palladium
	December 1982	Jayne Kennedy/George Peppard/Michael Warren
	December 4, 1983		Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
	December 1984
	December 1985
	December 13, 1986	Debbie Allen/Denzel Washington
	December 1987
	December 1988
	December 9, 1989
	1990
	January 11, 1991
24th	January 16, 1992		Pasadena Civic Auditorium
25th	January 5, 1993
26th	January 5, 1994
27th	April 6, 1996	Whitney Houston/Denzel Washington
28th	February 8, 1997	Arsenio Hall, Patti LaBelle
29th	February 14, 1998	Vanessa L. Williams, Gregory Hines
30th	February 14, 1999	Mariah Carey, Blair Underwood[8]	Pasadena Civic Auditorium
31st	February 12, 2000	Diana Ross
32nd	February 23, 2001	Chris Tucker	Universal Amphitheatre
33rd	March 3, 2002
34th	March 8, 2003	Cedric the Entertainer
35th	March 6, 2004	Tracee Ellis Ross/Golden Brooks/Persia White/Jill Marie Jones
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
39th	February 14, 2008	D. L. Hughley
40th	February 12, 2009	Halle Berry/Tyler Perry
41st	February 26, 2010	Anika Noni Rose/Hill Harper
42nd	March 4, 2011	Wayne Brady/Holly Robinson Peete
43rd	February 17, 2012	Sanaa Lathan/Anthony Mackie
44th	February 1, 2013	Steve Harvey
45th	February 22, 2014	Anthony Anderson[9]	Pasadena Civic Auditorium
46th	February 6, 2015
47th	February 5, 2016
48th	February 11, 2017
49th	January 15, 2018
50th	March 30, 2019		Dolby Theatre
51st	February 22, 2020		Pasadena Civic Auditorium

Controversy

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.[10] In 1990, they were criticized once again for not awarding Best Actress.[11] This was the fourth time it could not find enough nominees for Best Actress.[11] 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."[11]

In other years, some nominees have been called undeserving of NAACP attention. In response, some NAACP representatives have argued that the quality of an artist's work is the salient issue, with factors such as criminal charges inconsequential in this regard. For example, in 1994, Tupac Shakur was a nominee for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for the film Poetic Justice despite the filing of sexual assault charges against him in December 1993.[12] More specifically, Shakur had been accused of felony counts of forcible sodomy and unlawful detainment in New York City, when a woman alleged that he and two other men held her down in a hotel room while a fourth man sodomized her.[13] 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.[13] In the same year, Martin Lawrence was criticized for winning Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series and the show was criticized for its sexual controversy.[13] In 2004, R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory was nominated for Outstanding Album[14] while he was under indictment for charges related to child pornography.[15]

Other nominees have faced controversy due to their portrayals of major civil rights figures. In 2003, the movie Barbershop received five nominations, including Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Supporting Actor (for Cedric the Entertainer's performance). In the film, Cedric's character makes pejorative remarks about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Jackson, and Jesse Jackson, content that elicited criticism, including Rosa Parks's refusal to attend the awards event.[16] The rap group OutKast received six nominations in 2004 but faced criticism because they had previously recorded the song "Rosa Parks", which had resulted in Parks suing them over the use of her name.[15]

Award categories

These are the major 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 Music Outstanding New Artist Outstanding Female Artist Outstanding Male Artist Outstanding Duo or Group Outstanding Jazz Artist Outstanding Jazz 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

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 Special awards Chairman's Award President's Award Hall of Fame Award Entertainer of the Year

References

1. "NAACP Will Present Nine Image Awards". The Los Angeles Times. August 7, 1967.
2. "NAACP to Confer Honors at Beverly Hilton Fete". Valley Times (North Hollywood, California). p. 7.
3. Knapp, Dan (September 27, 1969). "Getting Blacker, But Not Black Enough". The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia).
4. "NAACP Sets Annual Image Awards Show", The Los Angeles Times. September 8, 1970.
5. "Marvin Gaye Wins Top Honors at NAACP Image Awards Show". The Pittsburgh Courier. December 4, 1971.
6. "NAACP Honors Black Performers". The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida). November 20, 1972.
7. "Together They Did It!" The 12th Annual NAACP Image Awards
8. "The Crisis". The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. 1 April 1999. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
9. "The 45th NAACP Image Awards Announces Additional Presenters Including Idris Elba, Vin Diesel, Terry Crews & More". TV By The Numbers. 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
10. "NAACP cites lack of Best Actress in a Motion Picture Award due to lack of meaningful roles". UPI.com. October 29, 1987. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
11. "Why NAACP lacks image award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture". LA Times. October 25, 1990. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
12. "Michael Jackson makes surprise appearance at NAACP Image Awards". Jet. 1994-01-24. Retrieved 2006-09-29.
13. Leonardi, Marisa (January 7, 1994). "Shakur Questionably nominated". LA Times. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
14. Wiederhorn, Jon (2004-01-08). "Outkast, Beyoncé, R. Kelly Nominated For NAACP Image Awards". VH1.com. Retrieved 2006-09-29.
15. "Paula Zahn Now: Can Democrats Challenge Kerry?; NAACP Controversy; California Death Penalty Debate". CNN.com. 2004-01-28. Retrieved 2006-09-29.
16. "Image Awards rekindle 'Barbershop' controversy". CNN.com. 2003-03-09. Archived from the original on 2006-06-29. Retrieved 2006-09-29.

External links

• Official website
• The Futon Critic