CINEMA & TELEVISION
honoree ARCHIVES
2026
Icon Award
Debbie Allen
A Different World
Groundbreaker Award
Quinta Brunson
Abbott Elementary
Vanguard Award
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Backrooms
Director Award
Chris Rock
Misty Green
Comedy Award
Lamorne Morris
Spider-Noir
Showrunner Award
Katori Hall
P-Valley
Actor Award – Film
Jaafar Jackson
Michael
Actor Award – Series
Anthony Mackie
12 12 12
Supporting Actor Award – Film
Stephan James
I Play Rocky
Supporting Actress Award – Film
Sophie Okonedo
Mouse
Supporting Actor Award – Series
Ato Essandoh
The Diplomat
Supporting Actress Award – Series
Quincy Tyler Bernstine
Furious
Breakthrough Director Award
Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri
Clarissa
Rising Star Award
Jaalen Best
The Greatest
2025
Career Achievement Award
Spike Lee
Highest 2 Lowest
Vanguard Award
David Alan Grier
St. Denis Medical
Director Award
Ryan Coogler
Sinners
Director Award
Reginald Hudlin
& Shola Lynch
Number One on the Call Sheet
Comedy Award
Janelle James
Abbott Elementary
Actress Award – Film
Tessa Thompson
Hedda
Actor Award – Series
Sterling K. Brown
Paradise
Actress Award – Series
Jurnee Smollett
Smoke
Ensemble Award
Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor & Chase Infiniti
One Battle After Another
Supporting Actor Award – Film
Damson Idris
F1
Supporting Actress Award – Series
Skye P. Marshall
Matlock
Breakthrough Performance Award
Tenika Davis
Spartacus: House of Ashur
Rising Star Award
Naya Desir-Johnson
Sarah’s Oil
2024
Icon Award
Tyler Perry
The Six Triple Eight
Career Achievement Award
Malcolm D. Lee
25th Anniversary of The Best Man
Trailblazer Award
Regina King
Shirley
Social Impact Award
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Nickel Boys
Director Award
Steve McQueen
Blitz
Producer Award
Natasha Rothwell
How to Die Alone
Documentary Award
Angela Patton & Natalie Rae
Daughters
Composer Award
Kris Bowers
The Wild Robot
Actor Award – Film
John David Washington
The Piano Lesson
Actor Award – Series
Wendell Pierce
Elsbeth
Breakthrough Actor Award
Jharrel Jerome
Unstoppable
Rising Star Award – Film
Ryan Destiny
The Fire Inside
Rising Star Award – Series
Michael Rainey Jr.
Power Book II: Ghost
2023
Career Achievement Award
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Abbott Elementary
Visionary Award
Jeffrey Wright
American Fiction
Producer Award
Charles D. King
They Cloned Tyrone
Actor Award
Colman Domingo
Rustin
Ensemble Award
Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Fantasia Barrino, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, Colman Domingo & Corey Hawkins
The Color Purple
Supporting Actress Award – Film
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers
Documentary Award
Allen Hughes
Dear Mama
Animation Award
Kemp Powers
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Actor Award – Series
Damson Idris
Snowfall
Supporting Actress Award – Series
Jessica Williams
Shrinking
Breakthrough Performance Award
Teyana Taylor
A Thousand and One
Rising Star Award
Keivonn Woodard
The Last of Us
2022
Icon Award
Berry Gordy
Career Achievement Award
Angela Bassett
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award
Michael B. Jordan
Creed III
Groundbreaker Award
Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi
Entergalactic
Actor Award – Series
Nicco Annan
P-Valley
Social Justice Award
Elegance Bratton
The Inspection
Actress Award – Series
Quinta Brunson
Abbott Elementary
Actress Award – Film
Danielle Deadwyler
Till
Rising Star Award
Ayo Edebiri
The Bear
Supporting Actor Award
Brian Tyree Henry
Causeway
Rising Star Award
Quincy Issiah
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
Actor Award – Film
Jonathan Majors
Devotion
Director Award
Gina Prince-Bythewood
The Woman King
Breakthrough Film Award
Nikyatu Jusu
Nanny
Endemble Award
Elisha “EJ” Williams, Dulé Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Laura Kariuki, Julian Lerner, Amari O’Neil & Milan Ray
The Wonder Years
2021
Career Achievement Award
Halle Berry
Trailblazer Award
Ava DuVernay
Special Honoree Award
Natasha Rothwell
Special Honoree Award
Kenan Thompson
Special Honoree Award
Patina Miller
Director Award – Film
Antoine Fuqua
The Guilty
Producer Award – Television
Anthony Anderson
Black-ish
Showrunner Award
Robin Thede
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Actor Award – Filma
Will Smith
King Richard
Actress Award – Film
Jennifer Hudson
Respect
Actor Award – Television
Omar Sy
Lupin
Breakthrough Actor Award – Television
Toheeb Jimoh
Ted Lasso
Ensemble Award
The Cast of The Harder They Fall
2020
Career Achievement Award
Delroy Lindo
Special Honoree Award
Andra Day
Social Justice Award
Tommie Smith
Director Award – Film
Shaka King
Judas and the Black Messiah
Producer Award – Film
John Legend and Mike Jackson
Giving Voice
Actress Award – Film
Tessa Thompson
Sylvie’s Love
Breakthrough Actor Award – Film
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Ensemble Award – Television
The Cast of One Night in Miami…
NextGen Award
Zendaya
NextGen Award
John David Washington
2019
Career Achievement Award
Eddie Murphy
Dolemite Is My Name
Special Honoree Award
Nia Long
The Banker
Special Honoree Award
Kasi Lemmons
Harriet
Special Honoree Award
Chiwetel Ejiofor
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
2014
Honorees
12 Years a Slave
42
The Best Man Holiday
The Butler
Fruitvale Station
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom