The 2026 NAACP Image Awards kicked off its preliminary celebrations on Thursday night, with the gothic thriller Sinners and the hit mockumentary Abbott Elementary emerging as the evening’s biggest winners during the non-televised Creative Honours, per hollywoodreporter.com.
Sinners, which entered the race with a staggering 18 nominations, secured four additional trophies. Director Ryan Coogler swept both the writing and directing categories for a motion picture, while Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo earned supporting acting honours. This follows a record-breaking week for the film, which recently netted 16 Oscar nominations.
Abbott Elementary dominated the comedy categories, taking home Best Comedy Series, Supporting Actor: William Stanford Davis and Supporting Actress: Janelle James.
The evening celebrated a broad spectrum of talent across digital and traditional media, Drama – Reasonable Doubt won Best Drama Series, while Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin took home Best Supporting Actor.
Animation: Zootopia 2 was named Best Animated Motion Picture.
Talk Shows: The Jennifer Hudson Show won Best Talk Series, and Don Lemon secured two awards for his independent show.
Limited Series: The Netflix production Straw continued its winning streak, including a Best Actress win for Taraji P. Henson.
The week-long festivities conclude this Saturday, February 28. The main ceremony, hosted by Deon Cole, will feature special honours for Viola Davis (Chairman’s Award) and Colman Domingo (President’s Award). Music legends Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella are also set for induction into the Hall of Fame.
The 2026 NAACP Image Awards will air live on BET and CBS at 8pm ET/PT.
