The NAACP Image Awards 2022 are presented. Jennifer Hudson took home top honor of the night as she was named ‘Entertainer of the Year.’ The Harder They Fall won in the ‘Outstanding Motion Picture’ category with Will Smith crowned as the ‘Outstanding Actor in a motion picture’ for his role in King Richard. The show, presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), recognizes the achievements of people of color across numerous categories.
Jennifer Hudson also won in the ‘Outstanding Actress in a motion picture’ category for her role of Aretha Franklin in Respect. The 53rd ceremony was aired live following almost a week of virtual announcements. Anthony Anderson, star of the American Sitcom Black-ish, hosted the awards show for the ninth year in a row. He also won in the ‘Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series’ category with which he has now won an NAACP award for eight times.
Similar to other major award shows such as the Oscars, the winner within each category is decided by a vote from the organization’s members. Among the major winners of the night, Insecure won ‘Outstanding Comedy series’ and ‘Outstanding Actress in a comedy series’ for Issa Rae. In the drama series category, Queen Sugar won for ‘Outstanding Drama series’ with Sterling K Brown (This is Us) and Angela Bassett (9-1-1) winning ‘Outstanding Actor and Actress in a drama series; respectively. Encanto was awarded the best ‘Outstanding Animated Motion Picture’
Jennifer Hudson, the biggest winner of the night is a two-time Grammy award winning artist and has also won the Academy Award back in 2007 for her role in Dreamgirls. Her movie, Respect, is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in India.
The Harder They Fall, a Netflix Original which was awarded as the best movie, is an American Western film whose principal cast members are all black. It is about an outlaw who reunites his gang to seek revenge from his enemy when he learns that he is being released from prison. The movie is available to stream on Netflix.
Will Smith plays the role of Richard Williams, father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard. The movie is yet to release on OTT platforms in India. Will Smith is also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actor category.
Encanto (awarded the best animated movie) is a musical fantasy comedy by Walt Disney and is streaming on Disney+Hotstar in India. The movie is nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated movie category and is a front-runner to win.
You can check out the full list of winners and nominations on the NAACP Image Awards website:
https://naacpimageawards.net/nominees/