The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The 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 All-Time leading winner with 25 wins as a solo artist.

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NAACP Image Awards
Current: 55th NAACP Image Awards
Awarded for	Excellence in film, television, theatre, music, and literature
Country	United States
Presented by	NAACP
First awarded	August 13, 1967; 56 years ago (1967-08-13)
Website	naacpimageawards.net

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The award ceremony was first organized and presented on August 13, 1967, by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr. and Willis Edwards, all three of whom were leaders of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch.^[1][2] While it was first taped for television by NBC (which broadcast the awards from 1987 to 1994 in January, on weeks when Saturday Night Live wasn't airing a new episode), it would only be broadcast in primetime beginning in 1996. 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 (reverted to a "late-in-year" ceremony for 1981–1990); 1991, as the timing returned too late in a calendar year to honor that same year; 1995.

The first live broadcast of the awards, also on the Fox Network, occurred in 2007 for its 38th edition (up until 2007, the ceremony had been broadcast with tape delay) and the annual ceremonies usually take place in or around the Los Angeles area, in February or early March. The 44th edition aired on NBC. Sources have had trouble verifying the winners in the top categories from 1983 to 1995.

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

In 1987, the NAACP came under fire for dropping their Best Actress award for that year. They defended this position, citing a lack of meaningful roles for Black women.^[17] In 1990, they were criticized once again for not awarding Best Actress.^[18] This was the fourth time it could not find enough nominees for Best Actress.^[18] 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."^[18]

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 past, 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.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[20] The same year, Martin Lawrence was criticized for winning Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series for Martin, after the show was maligned for its sexual content.^[20] In 2004, R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory was nominated for Outstanding Album^[21] while he was under indictment for charges related to child pornography.^[22]

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 elicited criticism, including Parks' refusal to attend the ceremony.^[23] 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.^[22]