The NAACP Image Awards happened last night in Pasadena, California, with a bevy of honours awarded to the noteworthy cultural phenomena of 2017, with Ava DuVernay taking the top prize at the ceremony.
Duvernay was given the Entertainer of the Year award, mostly for her involvement in creating the hit show Queen Sugar. The Selma director was the only non-entertainer to be nominated for the coveted prize, as DuVernay faced off against heavyweights like Jay-Z, Issa Rae, Chadwick Boseman, Chance the Rapper and Bruno Mars.
DuVernay humbly announced upon accepting her award "I'm a director! I shouldn't be up here!"
Show hosts Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross were also big winners last night, taking home the actor and actress prizes for their work in black-ish, while the show also nabbed the Outstanding Comedy Series award.
Girls Trip took home the Outstanding Motion Picture accolade, beating frontrunner Get Out for the honour. However, Daniel Kaluuya was given the Best Actor award for his performance in the Jordan Peele film. Octavia Spencer's starring role in Gifted landed the Oscar-winner the Best Actress prize.
Danny Glover was awarded the President's Award for his decades of activism alongside his work in film and television. The ceremony took place on Martin Luther King Day, injecting the spectacle with a sense of reason and context beyond its celebration of black media.
