Viola Davis, Jennifer Hudson Receive Honors at Second Night of Virtual Ceremonies

Viola Davis, Jennifer Hudson, Stacey Abrams and Tabitha Brown were among the winners at the second night of the virtual NAACP Image Awards, which honored literary works, reality TV and game shows.

Davis took home the outstanding literary nonfiction award, her sixth career win from the awards body, for “Finding Me.” The memoir brought her to EGOT status earlier this month, landing a Grammy for best spoken word or non-musical album. Her recent film “The Woman King” also earned her a BAFTA nod for leading actress.

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Hudson, a fellow EGOT winner, win in the category of outstanding host in a talk or news/information series or special for “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” The award marked her fourth Image Award win.

Tabitha Brown took home her second Image Award for outstanding host in a reality/reality competition game show or variety series or special for “Tab Time,” and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams won outstanding children’s literary work alongside Kitt Thomas for “Stacey’s Remarkable Books.”

Terrence Terrell, Hailie Sahar and Jotaka Eaddy presented at the virtual awards show. Eaddy, CEO of Full Circle Strategies, presented the literary awards and emphasized the importance of reading. Sahar (“Pose,” “Good Trouble”) presented the remaining literary categories and Terrell (“B Positive, “Bigger”) announced the TV awards.

Throughout the week, the NAACP will award kudos during four virtual ceremonies, hosted by Khleo Thomas, that are live-streamed on NAACPImageAwards.net.

The virtual awards presentation, as well as the NAACP Image Awards fashion show luncheon on Thursday afternoon and non-televised awards dinner on Friday night, all lead up to the live telecast on Saturday evening.

The awards show will be broadcast from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif., airing at 8 p.m. ET on BET. It will also simulcast across Paramount Global networks (including BET HER, CBS, CMT, Comedy Central, LOGO, MTV, MTV2, Paramount Network, POP TV, Smithsonian, TV Land, and VH1).

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Many of the top categories will be awarded during the ceremony — the first held in-person since February 2020 — including entertainer of the year, a category which boasts a quintet of multitalented Black women: Angela Bassett, Mary J. Blige, Quinta Brunson, Viola Davis and Zendaya.

The Image Awards celebrate artists within motion picture, television, music and literary categories, including streaming and other digital media. New this year are awards for outstanding hairstyling, outstanding make-up and outstanding costume design.

Leading the nominees in this year’s motion picture categories is “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” with 12 total nods, followed by “The Woman King” (which nabbed nine nominations), “Till,” (seven nominations), “Emancipation” (five nominations) and “A Jazzman’s Blues” (four nominations).

“Abbott Elementary” leads the TV race with nine nods, followed by “Black-ish” and “The Best Man: The Final Chapters,” which tied with seven each. TV dramas “Queen Sugar” and “P-Valley” were also well-represented with six nominations, a figured equalled by “From Scratch” and “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” in the TV movie, limited series or dramatic special race.

Here is a complete list of winners for the 54th NAACP Image Awards, which will be updated throughout the week:

Tuesday, Feb. 21

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction 

“Take My Hand” – Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction 

“Finding Me” – Viola Davis

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author 

“Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen” – George McCalman

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/ Autobiography 

“Scenes from My Life” – Michael K. Williams, Jon Sternfeld

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional 

“Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration” – Tracey Lewis-Giggetts

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry 

“To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness” – Robin Coste Lewis

Outstanding Literary Work – Children 

“Stacey’s Remarkable Books” – Stacey Abrams, Kitt Thomas

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens 

“Cookies & Milk” – Shawn Amos

Outstanding Variety or Game Show (Series or Special)

“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”

Outstanding Host in a Reality/Reality Competition, Game Show or Variety (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble

Tabitha Brown – “Tab Time”

Outstanding Reality Program/Reality Competition Series

“Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls”

Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble

Jennifer Hudson – “The Jennifer Hudson Show”

Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special)

“ABC News 20/20 Michelle Obama: The Light We Carry, A Conversation with Robin Roberts”

Monday, Feb. 20

Just weeks after becoming the most-awarded artist in the history of the Grammys, Beyoncé’s reign continued at the 54th annual NAACP Image Awards, where she added three more awards to her trophy case.

During Monday night’s non-televised virtual experience, Queen Bey was named this year’s outstanding female artist, while her hit record “Renaissance” won outstanding album and “Cuff It” took home the prize for outstanding soul/R&B song.

Beyoncé had been tied with Kendrick Lamar for the most nominations, with five apiece. Both artists were nominated in the outstanding music video/visual album category, but the trophy went to Rihanna for her “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ballad, “Lift Me Up.” (The Marvel film was also awarded the outstanding soundtrack/compilation album prize.) Beyoncé’s fifth nomination came in the outstanding duo, group or collaboration (contemporary) category, but that award went to “Call Me Every Day” from Chris Brown feat. Wizkid, one of Brown’s two wins for the night. Brown also took home the prize for outstanding male artist for his album “Breezy”.

Beyoncé now has 25 NAACP Image Awards over the course of her career, including wins for entertainer of the year in 2004 and 2019. This year marks her fourth win for outstanding female artist, after taking home the trophy in 2015, 2017 and 2021, the year she broke the record for the most NAACP Image Awards in history. She also has five NAACP Image Awards for outstanding duo or group with Destiny’s Child.

Presenters for Monday night’s ceremony were Crystal Renee Hayslett, Echo Kellum and Jotaka Eaddy.

Outstanding International Song
“No Woman No Cry” – Tems

Outstanding Jazz Album – Instrumental
“JID014 (Jazz is Dead)” – Henry Franklin, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge

Outstanding Gospel/Christian Song
“Positive” – Erica Campbell

Outstanding Gospel/Christian Album
“Kingdom Book One” – Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration (Traditional)
Silk Sonic – “Love’s Train”

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration (Contemporary)
Chris Brown feat. Wizkid – “Call Me Every Day”

Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album
“Lift Me Up” – Rihanna

Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Album
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – Music From and Inspired By – Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis and Dave Jordan

Outstanding Male Artist
Chris Brown – “BREEZY” (Deluxe)

Outstanding Female Artist
Beyoncé – “Renaissance”

Outstanding Soul/R&B Song
“Cuff It” – Beyoncé

Outstanding Hip-Hop/Rap Song
“Hotel Lobby” – Quavo, Takeoff

Outstanding Album
“Renaissance” – Beyoncé

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