The 52nd

NAACP Image Awards 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 ...

, presented by the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, honored outstanding representations and achievements of

people of color The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

in motion pictures, television, music, and literature during the 2020 calendar year. The ceremony aired on March 27, 2021, on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

and simulcast on several of its sister

ViacomCBS Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

Networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

, with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

airing the ceremony for the first time. The ceremony was hosted for the eighth time by actor

Anthony Anderson Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the comedy series ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022), Marlin Boulet on the ...

. Presentations of untelevised categories were livestreamed between March 22–26, 2021 on the ceremony's website. The nominations were announced on February 4, 2021. During the ceremony, the Hall of Fame Award was given to

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

for "his contributions to the African-American film industry",

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

was awarded with the President's Award for "his contributions in the fight for social justice", and Rev. D. James Lawson was awarded with the Chairman's Award "to recognize his work as a social change advocate and his significant contributions to the civil rights movement, specifically the essential role in the south's nonviolent protests in the 1960s". For the first time in the history of the awards ceremony, categories were created to honor animated works in film and television, and the category for voice-over work was broken into two separate categories, respectively for film and television. All nominees are listed below, and the winners are listed in bold.

Special awards

Special awards

Motion picture

Television and streaming

Drama

Comedy

Television movie, limited-series or dramatic special

Television or Motion Picture

Overall acting

Reality and variety

Other categories

Recording

Literary

References

External links