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. 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.

History

The award ceremony was first organized and presented on August 13, 1967, by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr. and

Willis Edwards Willis Edwards (28 April 1903 – 27 September 1988) was an English professional football player and manager. Biography Edwards was born in the mining village of Newton, North East Derbyshire, not far from Chesterfield and Alfreton. Like many bo ...

, 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 ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' 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 to late in a calendar year to honor that same year; 1995, The first

live broadcast A live broadcast, also called a live transmission, generally refers to various types of media that are broadcast without a significant delay. The most common seen media example of the live transmission is a news program or a news broadcasting. ...

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

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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

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 ilmindustry has yet to show diversity or present realistic leading roles for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

women." 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,

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was a nominee for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for the film '' Poetic Justice'' despite the filing of

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charges against him in December 1993. 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. 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. 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. In 2004, R. Kelly's '' Chocolate Factory'' was nominated for Outstanding Album while he was under

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for charges related to

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. 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

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's performance). In the film, Cedric's character makes pejorative remarks about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr.,

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, and Jesse Jackson, content that elicited criticism, including Rosa Parks's refusal to attend the awards event. 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.

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 * Outstanding Character Voice Performance – 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

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

Special awards

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naacp Image Awards Awards established in 1967 Awards honoring African Americans 1969 establishments in the United States