NAACP Image Awards

The awards ceremony was conceived by Toni Vaz^[1] during an April 1967 NAACP branch meeting in Beverly Hills. "I called it the Image Awards because I wanted a better image for the people who worked in the industry," Vaz said. "I 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.^[2][3]

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.
• 1979, as the 11th annual awards were held in June 1978^[4] and the 12th annual awards were held in January 1980.^[5] The awards reverted to a "late-in-year" ceremony for 1980–1990 with the 13th annual awards held in December 1980.^[6]
• 1991, as the timing returned to early in the following calendar year to honor the previous year's work.
• 1995, when the awards were canceled due to financial concerns.

In 1982, the NAACP celebrated the 15th Annual Image Awards by televising the ceremony for the first time.^[7] Initially the NAACP Image Awards aired locally in Los Angeles on KHJ-TV (currently known as KCAL-TV)^[2] although the 1982 and 1983 programs were syndicated nationally.^[8] Willis Edwards, former president of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP, persuaded 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.^[2] The show made it's first network appearance on NBC on Saturday, January 17, 1987, as a 90-minute special at 11:30 pm, preempting the slot usually filled by Saturday Night Live.^[9]

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.^[2][10][11] The award show had its first prime time telecast on April 23, 1996 for its 27th edition as it began its 16-year run on Fox.^[11][12] The award show was broadcast live for the first time on March 2, 2007 for its 38th edition (the ceremony was broadcast with tape delay prior to 2007). The Image Awards returned to NBC for its 43rd edition in 2012.^[11][13]

For five years from 2014 to 2018, the NAACP partnered with Black-owned cable network TV One to air the Image Awards.^[2]

The New York firm Society Awards manufactures the trophy since its redesign in 2008.

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.^[36] In 1990, they were criticized once again for not awarding Best Actress.^[37] This was the fourth time it could not find enough nominees for Best Actress.^[37] Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the organization's Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch, said, "The [film] industry has yet to show diversity or present realistic leading roles for African-American women."^[37]

In several instances, nominees have been perceived as "undeserving" or "unworthy" of recognition by members of the media, fellow celebrities, as well as the general public; in their own defense, some NAACP representatives have stated that the overall quality of an artist's work is the salient issue. This would render certain factors, such as criminal charges or the nominee's history, being inconsequential in this regard. For example, in 1994, rapper Tupac Shakur was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (for Poetic Justice), despite sexual assault charges being filed against him in December 1993.^[38] 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.^[39] 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.^[39] The same year, Martin Lawrence was criticized for winning Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series for Martin, after Lawrence had been banned from Saturday Night Live due to sexual content in his opening monologue.^[39] In 2004, R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory was nominated for Outstanding Album^[40] while he was under indictment for charges related to child pornography.^[41]

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.^[42] 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.^[41]