#NAACPImageAwards: Barack Obama, Michaela Coel Among Winners From Non-Televised Ceremonies

See the Complete Nominations and Winners List

This year’s 52nd NAACP Image Awards is announcing this year’s winners across more than 60 categories in streaming presentations across five nights ahead of the awards’ live show on BET and CBS.

On Monday, the NAACP presented awards in a number of literary and documentary categories as well as two special awards for activist and youth activist of the year.

Among the winners were John Lewis: Good Trouble for best documentary (film) and The Last Dance for best documentary (TV — series or special).

Elsewhere, Barack Obama was among the winners in the literary categories. The former president’s memoir A Promised Land was named best nonfiction literary work during Monday night’s show. (Obama previously was named the recipient of the NAACP’s Chairman’s Award in 2005).

On Tuesday, Night Two, several writing and directing awards were handed out, with females dominating the winners in those categories. Michaela Coel took home the award for best writing in a comedy series for I May Destroy You,Attica Locke nabbed the award for drama series writing for Little Fires Everywhere. In the TV directing categories, Anya Adams won for her work on the comedy series black-ish.

The virtual, non-televised presentations will continue through Friday before the live show airs on BET and across ViacomCBS’ networks including CBS, VH1 and MTV on Saturday, March 27 at 8 p.m.

The NAACP Image Awards recognizes the achievements of people of color in TV, music, literature and film and those who promote social justice through creative endeavors.

Below is the complete nominations and winners list of 2021 NAACP Image Awards;

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

Michaela Coel – I May Destroy You – “Ego Death” (HBO) (WINNER)

Issa Rae – Insecure – “Lowkey Feelin’ Myself” (HBO)

Lee Eisenberg, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon – Little America – “The Rock” (Apple TV+)

Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher – Never Have I Ever “Pilot” (Netflix)

Rajiv Joseph – Little America – “The Manager” (Apple TV+)

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series

Attica Locke – Little Fires Everywhere – “The Spider Web” (Hulu) (WINNER)

Erika L. Johnson, Mark Richard – The Good Lord Bird – “A Wicked Plot” (Showtime)

Jessica Lamour – Little Voice – “Love Hurts” (Apple TV+)

Katori Hall – P-Valley – “Perpetratin'” (Starz)

Tanya Barfield – Mrs. America – “Shirley” (FX)

Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie or Special

Geri Cole – The Power of We: A Sesame Street Special (HBO Max) (WINNER)

Diallo Riddle, Bashir Salahuddin, D. Rodney Carter, Emily Goldwyn, Rob Haze, Zuri Salahuddin, Bennett Webber, Evan Williams, Will Miles – Sherman’s Showcase Black History Month Spectacular (IFC)

Eugene Ashe – Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Studios)

Lin-Manuel Miranda – Hamilton (Disney+)

Sylvia L. Jones, Camille Tucker – The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (Lifetime)

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture

Radha Blank – The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix) (WINNER) 

David E. Talbert – Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (Netflix)

Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)

Lee Isaac Chung – Minari (A24)

Pete Docter, Kemp Powers, Mike Jones – Soul (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series

Anya Adams – Black-ish – “Hair Day” (ABC) (WINNER)

Aurora Guerrero – Little America – “The Jaguar” (Apple TV+)

Eric Dean Seaton – Black-ish – “Our Wedding Dre” (ABC)

Kabir Akhtar – Never Have I Ever – “… started a nuclear war” (Netflix)

Sam Miller, Michaela Coel – I May Destroy You – “Ego Death” (HBO)

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series

Hanelle Culpepper – Star Trek: Picard – “Remembrance” (CBS All Access) (WINNER)

Cheryl Dunye – Lovecraft Country – “Strange Case” (HBO)

Misha Green – Lovecraft Country – “Jig-a-Bobo” (HBO)

Nzingha Stewart – Little Fires Everywhere – “The Uncanny” (Hulu)

Steve McQueen – Small Axe – “Mangrove” (Amazon Studios)

Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie or Special

Eugene Ashe – Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Studios) (WINNER)

Beyoncé Knowles Carter, Emmanuel Adeji, Blitz Bazawule, Kwasi Fordjour – Black Is King (Disney+)

Christine Swanson – The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (Lifetime)

Chuck Vinson, Alan Muraoka – The Power of We: A Sesame Street Special (HBO Max)

Kamilah Forbes – Between The World And Me (HBO)

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture

Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Old Guard (Netflix) (WINNER)

David E. Talbert – Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (Netflix)

George C. Wolfe – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)

Radha Blank – The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)

Regina King – One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)

Outstanding Short-Form Series – Comedy or Drama

#FreeRayshawn (Quibi) (WINNER)

CripTales (BBC America)

Lazor Wulf (Adult Swim)

Mapleworth Murders (Quibi)

Sincerely, Camille (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Outstanding Performance in a Short-Form Series

Laurence Fishburne – #FreeRayshawn (Quibi) (WINNER)

Giancarlo Esposito – The Broken and the Bad (AMC.com )

J.B. Smoove – Mapleworth Murders (Quibi)

Jasmine Cephas Jones – #FreeRayshawn (Quibi)

Stephan James – #FreeRayshawn (Quibi)

Outstanding Short-Form Series – Reality/Nonfiction

Between The Scenes – The Daily Show (Comedy Central) (WINNER)

American Masters – Unladylike2020 (PBS)

Benedict Men (Quibi)

In The Making (PBS)

Inspire Change Series (NFL Network)

Outstanding Short-Form. (Live Action)

Black Boy Joy (Film Independent Project Involve ) (WINNER)

Baldwin Beauty (Powderkeg Media)

Gets Good Light

Home

Mr. & Mrs. Ellis (AMB Productions)

Outstanding Short-Form (Animated)

Canvas (Netflix) (WINNER)

Cops and Robbers (Netflix)

Loop (Pixar Animation Studios)

The Power of Hope (The Power Of Hope)

Windup (Unity Technologies)

Special Award – Spingarn Medal

Misty Copeland

Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction

Black Bottom Saints – Alice Randall (HarperCollins Publishers)

Lakewood – Megan Giddings (HarperCollins Publishers)

Riot Baby – Tochi Onyebuchi (TorDotCom Publishing, imprint of Tom Doherty Associates)

The Awkward Black Man – Walter Mosley (Grove Atlantic) (WINNER)

The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett (Riverhead Books)

Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction

A Black Women’s History of the United States – Dr. Daina Ramey Berry and Dr. Kali Nicole Gross (Beacon Press)

A Promised Land – Barack Obama (Crown) (WINNER)

Driving While Black – Gretchen Sorin (W. W. Norton & Company)

Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America – Michael Eric Dyson (St. Martin’s Press)

We’re Better Than This – Elijah Cummings (HarperCollins Publishers)

Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author

A Knock at Midnight – Brittany Barnett (Penguin Random House)

Greyboy: Finding Blackness in a White World – Cole Brown (Skyhorse)

Lakewood – Megan Giddings (HarperCollins Publishers)

The Compton Cowboys – Walter Thompson-Hernandez (HarperCollins Publishers)

We’re Better Than This – Elijah Cummings (HarperCollins Publishers) (WINNER)

Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography

A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team – Arshay Cooper (Macmillan)

A Promised Land – Barack Obama (Crown)

Olympic Pride, American Prejudice – Deborah Draper (Simon & Schuster)

The Dead Are Arising – Les Payne, Tamara Payne (W. W. Norton & Company) (WINNER)

Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player – Willie O’Ree (Penguin Canada)

Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional

Do Right by Me: Learning to Raise Black Children in White Space – Valerie Harrison (Temple University Press)

Living Lively – Haile Thomas (HarperCollins Publishers)

The Black Foster Youth Handbook – Ángela Quijada-Banks (Soulful Liberation)

The Woman God Created You to Be: Finding Success Through Faith–Spiritually, Personally, and Professionally – Kimberla Lawson Roby (Lenox Press)

Vegetable Kingdom – Bryant Terry (Penguin Random House) (WINNER)

Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry

Homie – Danez Smith (Graywolf Press)

Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry – John Murillo (Four Way Books)

Seeing the Body – Rachel Eliza Griffiths (W. W. Norton & Company)

The Age of Phillis – Honorée Jeffers (Wesleyan University Press) (WINNER)

Un-American – Hafizah Geter (Wesleyan University Press)

Outstanding Literary Work – Children

I Promise – LeBron James, Nina Mata (HarperCollins)

Just Like a Mama – Alice Faye Duncan, Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (Simon & Schuster)

Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice – Nikki Grimes, Laura Freeman (Simon & Schuster)

She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm – Katheryn Russell-Brown, Eric Velasquez (Lee & Low Books) (WINNER)

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver – Gene Barretta, Frank Morrison (HarperCollins)

Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens

Before the Ever After – Jacqueline Woodson (Penguin Random House) (WINNER)

Black Brother, Black Brother – Jewell Parker Rhodes (Hachette Book Group)

Dear Justyce – Nic Stone (Crown Books for Young Readers)

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning – Jason Reynolds (Hachette Book Group )

This is Your Time – Ruby Bridges (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture)

Keith McQuirter – By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem (EPIX) (WINNER)

Muta’Ali – Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn (HBO)

Sam Pollard, Maro Chermayeff – Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children (Ep. 1 & 2) (HBO)

Simcha Jacobovici – Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (EPIX)

Yoruba Richen – The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show (Peacock)

Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture)

Mary Mazzio – A Most Beautiful Thing (Peacock)

Melissa Haizlip – Mr. Soul! (Maysles Documentary Center) (WINNER)

Nile Cone – The Beat Don’t Stop (TV One)

Royal Kennedy Rodgers – Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story (PBS)

Yoruba Richen, Elia Gasull Balada, Valerie Thomas – The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show (Peacock)

Outstanding Documentary (Television)

And She Could Be Next (PBS)

Black Love (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network)

Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (EPIX)

The Last Dance (ESPN / Netflix) (WINNER)

Unsung (TV One)

Outstanding Documentary (Film)

All In: The Fight For Democracy (Amazon Studios)

Coded Bias (7th Empire Media)

John Lewis: Good Trouble (Magnolia Pictures/Participant) (WINNER)

Mr. Soul! (Shoes in the Bed Productions)

On the Record (HBO Max)