The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the American-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. 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 most awarded individual with 25 wins as a solo artist.
History
The awards ceremony was conceived by Toni Vaz during an April 1967 NAACP branch meeting in Beverly Hills. Vaz named it the Image Awards as she "wanted a better image for the people who worked in the industry," and wanted to "put this award show together to thank the producers for giving good roles to people of color." Vaz stated that the branch president liked the idea, but when she called members and friends to enlist volunteers for an awards show committee, no one volunteered. Vaz then contacted numerous Black celebrities 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 film Porgy and Bess; and 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. Willis Edwards, former president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP, contacted then-NBC president Brandon Tartikoff to nationally broadcast the 19th NAACP Image Awards, which was held at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on December 14, 1986.
Initially, the Image Awards aired in a late night slot on NBC in the weeks when Saturday Night Live did not air a new episode, but in subsequent years, it aired on primetime on Fox and continued to air on primetime when it returned to NBC.
From 2014 to 2018, the Black-owned cable network TV One aired the Image Awards. The awards currently air on BET with a simulcast on its sister networks including CBS.
Event dates and locations
{| class="wikitable"
! #
! Date
! Host(s)
! Location
|-
| 1st
| August 13, 1967
|Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr., Willis Edwards
| 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
|
|
|-
|
| colspan="3" align="center"| 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
|
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|-
| 11th
| June 9, 1978
| Deniece Williams/Adam Wade/Glynn Turman/Aretha Franklin/Don Mitchell/Judy Pace
| Century Plaza Hotel
|-
| 12th
| January 27, 1980
| |Louis Gossett Jr./Rita Moreno/Ted Lange/Benjamin Hooks/Jack Valenti
| rowspan="5" | Hollywood Palladium
|-
| 13th
| December 7, 1980
| rowspan="3" | Robert Guillaume
|-
| 14th
| December 6, 1981
|-
| 15th
| December 5, 1982
|-
| 16th
| December 4, 1983
| Jayne Kennedy/George Peppard/Michael Warren
|-
| 17th
| December 1984
|
|
|-
| 18th
| December 1985
|
|
|-
| 19th
| December 14, 1986
| rowspan="2" | Debbie Allen/Denzel Washington
| rowspan="2" | Wiltern Theatre
|-
| 20th
| December 13, 1987
|-
| 21st
| December 1988
|
|
|-
| 22nd
| December 9, 1989
|
|
|-
| 23rd
| December 9, 1990
|
|
|-
|
| colspan="3" align="center"| 1991 – not presented, timing changed to have achievements of a calendar year honored early in following year
|-
| 24th
| January 11, 1992
|
| rowspan="3"| Pasadena Civic Auditorium
|-
| 25th
| January 16, 1993
|
|-
| 26th
| January 5, 1994
|
|-
|
| colspan="3" align="center"| 1995 – canceled due to financial concerns
|-
| 27th
| April 6, 1996| April 6, 1996
| Whitney Houston,Denzel Washington
| rowspan="5"| Pasadena Civic Auditorium
|-
| 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
|-
| 31st
| February 12, 2000
| Diana Ross
|-
| 32nd
| February 23, 2001
| rowspan="2"| Chris Tucker
| rowspan="4"| 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.
| rowspan="8"| 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
| rowspan="9"| Anthony Anderson
| rowspan="5"| 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
|-
| 52nd
| March 27, 2021
| rowspan="2"| Virtual
|-
| 53rd
| February 26, 2022
|-
| 54th
| February 25, 2023
| rowspan="2"| Queen Latifah
| Pasadena Civic Auditorium
|-
| 55th
| March 16, 2024
| Shrine Auditorium
|-
| 56th
| February 22, 2025
|rowspan="2"|Deon Cole
|rowspan="2"|Pasadena Civic Auditorium
|-
| 57th
| February 28, 2026
|}
Controversies
In 1987, the NAACP received criticism for not presenting 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. 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. 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 caused 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.