The NAACP Image Awards Are The Brightest (& Blackest) Part Of Awards Season. Here’s How To Watch

The NAACP Image Awards show is an essential night of Black excellence, initially debuting in 1967 to “honor outstanding film, television, music, and literature performances” within our community. Both joyous and sentimental, it is a ceremony that spotlights the prestige of Black talents too often neglected by predominantly white award shows (i.e. Beyoncé winning her first and only AOTY Grammy award in the year 2025 and Angela Bassett receiving an overdue honorary Oscar in the year 2024). For the 56th annual rendition—taking place Saturday, February 22 at 5:00 p.m. PST/8:00 p.m. EST at the Pasadena Civic Center and airing on BET and CBS—Cynthia Erivo, Keke Palmer, Kendrick Lamar, Kevin Hart, and Shannon Sharpe are nominated for the highly anticipated Entertainer Of The Year award. However, many stars like Beyoncé, her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, Ayo Edibiri, Doechii, Kendrick Lamar, and more took home trophies at the virtual ceremonies streamed on YouTube and hosted by Angel Laketa Moore and Marcus Tanksley earlier this week. 

This year’s theme is “Our Stories, Our Culture, Our Excellence,” and understandably so. The Democratic party's first-ever woman of color nominee, former Vice President Kamala Harris, will receive the Chairman’s Award. Previous year’s winners include former President Barack Obama, Poet-Laureate Amanda Gorman, Oscar-Award winner Samuel L. Jackson, and more notable figures. In addition, the pioneering Wayans family will be inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame—a hall home to legends like Ray Charles, Oprah Winfrey, Aretha Franklin, and more. The NAACP will also grant founder and CEO of #WinWithBlackWomen Jotaka Eaddy this year’s Mildred Bond Roxborough Social Justice Impact Award for sparking a movement that vigorously advocates for Black women. 

As for the top nominees, Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Ayo Edibiri dominates the television and streaming categories with four nominations for her work in The Bear and Saturday Night Live. Rapper and originator of the summer anthem T.G.I.F GloRilla received six nominations in music recording categories, which is two more than other top nominees Doechii, Kendrick Lamar, and Usher received this year. Lastly, the revered Netflix horror drama The Piano Lesson starring John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler leads the motion picture categories with a whopping 14 nominations.  

Night one and two of The NAACP’s virtual pre-award show took place earlier this week, in which hosts Angel Laketa Moore and Marcus Tanksley amicably fired off accolades to multiple winners on YouTube live. A few highlights include: Doechii winning Outstanding New Artist for dominating the end of 2024 with Denial Is A River, Ayo Edebiri’s securing Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Television) for her performance in The Bear, Beyoncé’s genre-shattering Cowboy Carter taking home Outstanding Album, Blue Ivy scoring Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Motion Picture) for her lead role in Mufasa: The Lion King, and the talented The Six Triple Eight cast earning Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture. And, of course, lest we forget that all-star Keke Palmer collected Outstanding Host in a Reality/Reality Competition for consistently charming audiences on her NBC game show Password.

Black representation in mainstream media is at an all-time high, but our current seats at the end table are not worth settling for. The Oscars and Grammys are historically racist, and still manage to spark protest movements in the 21st century with their eurocentric biases. The NAACP Image Awards actually recognizes more than one or two Black talents per show, and should be respected and revered just as much as the other ceremonies. In a press release, President and CEO of the NAACP Derrick Johnson explained, “We look forward to celebrating the brilliance of Black talent and creativity whose stories shape culture, ignite change, and inspire generations.” As do we.