It’s time for the 52nd NAACP Image Awards to give Black folks some flowers!
Hosts of The Real Garcelle Beauvais, Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love and Jeannie Mai announced 15 categories ahead of the official nominations announcement, the latter of which took place via NAACP’s Instagram page. Anika Noni-Rose, Chloe Bailey, Erika Alexander, Nicco Annan, TC Carson, Derrick Johnson (NAACP President / CEO), Karen Boykin-Towns (NAACP Vice Chair, National Board of Directors) and Connie Orlando (BET Executive Vice President of Specials) split the rest.
“We are excited to recognize and celebrate this year’s nominees, who at times throughout this unprecedented year have provided moments of levity, brought our communities together, and lifted our spirits through culture when we needed it the most,” Johnson said in an official statement provided to The Root via press release.
Want some highlights? Here they go...
The late Chadwick Boseman has two nominations in both film acting categories—Outstanding Actor In A Motion Picture (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture (Da 5 Bloods).
The movies in the running to be named Outstanding Motion Picture this year are Bad Boys For Life, Da 5 Bloods, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and One Night In Miami.
Yes, there’s some indie love too in the Outstanding Independent Motion Picture category: Emperor, Farewell Amor, Miss Juneteenth, The 24th and The Banker. There’s also a bunch of promising contenders in the Outstanding International Motion Picture such as Ainu Mosir, His House, Night of the Kings, The Last Tree and The Life Ahead (La vita davanti a se).
Outstanding Animated Motion Picture Nominees are Onward, Over the Moon, Scoob!, Soul and Trolls World Tour.
Lord knows we need some comic relief after this past year and there are some heavy hitters in the Outstanding Comedy Series category including #BlackAF, Black-ish, Grown-ish (so basically, Kenya Barris’ entire cinematic universe are fighting against each other), Insecure and The Last O.G.
If you want some dramaaaa though, the Outstanding Drama Series category includes All Rise, Bridgerton, Lovecraft Country, Power Book II: Ghost and This Is Us.
In the Outstanding Television Movie, Limited–Series or Dramatic Special category are Hamilton, Little Fires Everywhere, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, Sylvie’s Love and The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel.
As for Outstanding Animated Series, the noms go to Big Mouth, Central Park, Doc McStuffins, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Y’all ready for some music?
Outstanding New Artist includes Chika, Doja Cat, D Smoke, Giveon and Skip Marley. The noms for Outstanding Male Artist are Big Sean, Black Thought, Charlie Wilson Drake and John Legend while representing for the ladies in the Outstanding Female Artist category are Beyoncé, H.E.R., Jazmine Sullivan, Ledisi and Alicia Keys.
As for music videos, “I Can’t Breathe” - H.E.R., “Anything For You” - Ledisi, “Black is King” - Beyoncé, “Brown Skin Girl” - Beyoncé feat WizKid, SAINt JHN, Blue Ivy Carter and “Do It” - Chloe x Halle were nominated under the Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album category.
The big one category for music, Outstanding Album noms are Alicia - Alicia Keys, b7 - Brandy, Bigger Love - John Legend, Chilombo - Jhené Aiko and The Wild Card - Ledisi.
Lastly, D-Nice, Regina King, Viola Davis, Trevor Noah and Tyler Perry are among the hopefuls vying for the Entertainer Of The Year honor.
Congrats to all of the nominees!
The 52nd NAACP Image Awards will premiere on Saturday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and will also be simulcast across ViacomCBS Networks, which will include BET, MTV, VH1, MTV2, BET HER and LOGO. You can review the full list of nominees as well as vote for your faves at naacpimageawards.net.