Jamie Foxx, Marsai Martin, Steve Harvey Repeat as NAACP Image Award Winners
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Jamie Foxx, Marsai Martin and Steve Harvey were among the repeat winners honored during Wednesdayโs virtual NAACP Image Awards ceremony, continuing their run of Image award wins.
Martin won the outstanding performance by a youth award for the third year in a row for โBlack-ish.โ This is the fourth time the 16-year-old star has been honored in this category (she also won in 2017), and her sixth nomination.
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In 2020, Martin won a total of four Image awards, including the supporting actress in a comedy series prize for โBlack-ishโ and the supporting actress and breakthrough performance in a motion picture prizes for โLittle.โ
Foxx picked up his sixth NAACP Image award for his voiceover performance in โSoul.โ Last year, the Oscar-winner picked up the supporting actor Image award for his performance in โJust Mercy,โ which also won the outstanding motion picture prize and best actor (Michael B. Jordan). Foxxโs first NAACP Image award win came in 1998 for โThe Jamie Foxx Show.โ
โSoulโ also won the outstanding animated motion picture prize from the NAACP shortly before the film picked up the Producers Guild Award during the guildโs virtual ceremony, also held on Wed. night. Co-writer and co-director Kemp Powers accepted the Image award alongside producer Dana Murray and co-writer/director/Pixarโs chief creative officer Pete Docter.
โBeing able to tell a universal tale that explores the meaning of life through the prism of a Black manโs experiences was a special and incredible honor for all of us,โ Powers said. โAnd though the details of all of our stories are very specific, the struggle to find meaning in our lives, is universal.โ
Loretta Devine picked up her ninth Image award, honored for outstanding guest performance in Starzโs โP-Valley.โ The celebrated actor has previously won for her performances in โWaiting to Exhale,โ โThe Preacherโs Wife,โ โBoston Public,โ โGreyโs Anatomy,โ and her voice-over work on โDoc McStuffinsโ (which won the animated series prize).
On the hosting front, Steve Harvey and Trevor Noah took home top honors for emceeing โCelebrity Family Feudโ and โThe Daily Showโ respectively. Harveyโs win was a repeat from last year, while Noah (who is also nominated for 2021 Entertainer of the Year) nabbed his first individual Image award.
Harveyโs โCelebrity Family Feudโ also won the reality program, competition or game show prize. The comedian and host has now won 10 Image awards, including entertainer of the year in 2001.
โRed Table Talk,โ hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris, won the outstanding talk series prize. Facebook Watch announced earlier Wednesday that โRed Table Talkโ will return with new episodes streaming weekly beginning March 31.
The non-televised honors will be presented on the Image Awardsโ website daily through Friday, hosted by Nischelle Turner of โEntertainment Tonight.โ Audiences can watch by visiting naacpimageawards.net and by clicking โJoin The Virtual Experience Now.โ
The 52nd NAACP Image Awards will air live on BET on March 27 at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT. The ceremony will be simulcast across ViacomCBS Networks including CBS, BET Her, VH1, MTV, MTV2, and LOGO.
The winners revealed during Wednesdayโs ceremony include:
Outstanding Talk Series
โRed Table Talkโ
Outstanding Reality Program/Reality Competition or Game Show
โCelebrity Family Feudโ
Outstanding Variety Show (Series or Special)
VERZUZ
Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special)
The New York Times Presents โThe Killing of Breonna Taylorโ
Outstanding Childrenโs Program
โFamily Reunionโ
Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited-Series)
Marsai Martin โ โBlack-ishโ
Outstanding Animated Series
โDoc McStuffinsโ
Outstanding Animated Motion Picture
โSoulโ
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Television)
Laya DeLeon Hayes โ โDoc McStuffinsโ
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance โ Motion Picture
Jamie Foxx โ โSoulโ
Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information (Series or Special) โ Individual or Ensemble
Trevor Noah โ โThe Daily Show with Trevor Noahโ
Outstanding Host in a Reality/Reality Competition, Game Show or Variety (Series or Special) โ Individual or Ensemble
Steve Harvey โ โCelebrity Family Feudโ
Outstanding Guest Performance โ Comedy or Drama Series
Loretta Devine- โP-Valleyโ
Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Television)
Raynelle Swilling โ โCherish the Dayโ
Special Award โ Founderโs
Toni Vaz
Tuesday, March 23:
Women ruled the night during Tuesdayโs virtual ceremony, with major moments for Michaela Coel, filmmakers Gina Prince-Bythewood and Radha Blank, and Spingarn Medal recipient Misty Copeland. Seven of the thirteen competitive awards were presented to women for individual achievements in television and film.
โA writer is only as good as those reading and questioning their work,โ Coel said in her virtual acceptance speech. โIt was important for me to receive opinions of Black people, of queer people whilst I developed these scripts, and they provided me with that.
โThe privilege of writing in the way that I do, is that I get to spend a lot of time on my own in the middle of nowhere โ the only interruption to my sense of calm, being the fears my own mind possesses,โ Coel continued. โIt was here in this silence that I was able to process my own trauma, in a way that helps me grow. It was here, I was able to both loosen and tighten the sense of myself as a woman, as a Black woman and as a child of working-class immigrants. I really hope that more Black writers get this silence, to think, sit, and give ourselves our own feedback.โ
The television writing prizes went to Coel (โI May Destroy Youโ), Attica Locke (โLittle Fires Everywhereโ) and Geri Cole (โThe Power of We: A Sesame Street Specialโ). โThe Forty-Year-Old Versionโ filmmaker and star Radha Blank won the award for outstanding writing in a motion picture.
โI dedicate this award to my mother Carol Blank, who was my first audience and the biggest champion of my ideas,โ Blank said, accepting her honor. โThrough her I learned that in times like these where people still struggle for equality, a storyteller has the ability to inspire hope and reflect our humanity with our most prized possession, our pen.โ
Gina Prince-Bythewood earned her third NAACP Image Award, collecting the prize for outstanding directing in a motion picture for her Netflix hit โThe Old Guard.โ Prince-Bythewood had previously won for directing โThe Secret Life of Beesโ in 2009 and for her writing on โShots Firedโ in 2018.
Quibiโs โ#FreeRayshawnโ and its star Laurence Fishburne also continued to rack up the wins (despite the fact that the streaming service is now defunct), earning prizes in the outstanding short form series categories. The series won three Emmy awards last fall.
The winners revealed during Tuesdayโs ceremony include:
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
Michaela Coel โ โI May Destroy Youโ โ Ep. 112 โEgo Deathโ
Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Attica Locke โ โLittle Fires Everywhereโ โ Ep. 104 โThe Spider Webโ
Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie or Special
Geri Cole โ โThe Power of We: A Sesame Street Specialโ
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture
Radha Blank โ โThe Forty-Year-Old Versionโ
Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
Anya Adams โ โBlack-ishโ โ Ep. 611 โHair Dayโ
Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
Hanelle Culpepper โ โStar Trek: Picardโ โ Ep. 101 โRemembranceโ
Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie or Special
Eugene Ashe โ โSylvieโs Loveโ
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture
Gina Prince-Bythewood โ โThe Old Guardโ
Outstanding Short Form Series โ Comedy or Drama
โ#FreeRayshawnโ
Outstanding Performance in a Short Form
Laurence Fishburne โ โ#FreeRayshawnโ
Outstanding Short Form Series โ Reality/Nonfiction
โBetween The Scenesโ โ The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Outstanding Short-Film (Live Action)
โBlack Boy Joyโ
Outstanding Short-Film (Animated)
โCanvasโ
Special Award โ Spingarn Medal
Misty Copeland
Monday, March 22:
President Barack Obamaโs bestselling memoir โA Promised Landโ was among the winners during Monday nightโs webcast, which focused on the documentary and literary prizes, earning the outstanding literary work nonfiction prize.
ESPN & Netflixโs โThe Last Dance,โ which centered Michael Jordan and the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls, picked up the outstanding documentary, television series or special category prize. โJohn Lewis: Good Troubleโ earned the award for outstanding documentary film.
Mondayโs award ceremony also included acknowledgement special honorees Madison Potts (who earned the youth activist of the year) award and Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony (recognized as activist of the year).
The winners revealed during Mondayโs ceremony include:
Outstanding Literary Work โ Fiction
โThe Awkward Black Manโ โ Walter Mosley
Outstanding Literary Work โ Nonfiction
โA Promised Landโ โ Barack Obama
Outstanding Literary Work โ Debut Author
โWeโre Better Than Thisโ โ Elijah Cummings
Outstanding Literary Work โ Biography/Autobiography
โThe Dead Are Arisingโ โ Les Payne, Tamara Payne
Outstanding Literary Work โ Instructional
โVegetable Kingdomโ โ Bryant Terry
Outstanding Literary Work โ Poetry
โThe Age of Phillisโ โ Honorรฉe Jeffers
Outstanding Literary Work โ Children
โShe Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholmโ โ Katheryn Russell-Brown, Eric Velasquez
Outstanding Literary Work โ Youth/Teens
โBefore the Ever Afterโ โ Jacqueline Woodson
Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture)
Keith McQuirter โ โBy Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlemโ
Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture)
Melissa Haizlip โ โMr. SOUL!โ
Outstanding Documentary (Film)
โJohn Lewis: Good Troubleโ
Outstanding Documentary (Television โ Series or Special)
โThe Last Danceโ
Special Award โ Youth Activist of the Year
Madison Potts
Special Award โ Activist of the Year
Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony
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