Jemele Hill, Will Smith, Cicely Tyson feted at 1st round of NAACP Image Awards

Los Angeles : Hollywood superstar Will Smith, journalist Jemele Hill, activist Stacey Abrams, and late actress Cicely Tyson have been recognised at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards on Monday.As per Variety, starting from February 21, non-televised Image Awards are being handed out during five virtual ceremonies through the week, leading up to the live telecast on February 26 on BET where Awards in the top categories will be doled out.Former ESPN personality Jamele Hill has emerged as the first double winner at this year’s coveted awards, she took home two trophies for her podcast ‘Jemele Hill is Unbothered’, in the categories of arts and entertainment and society and culture.

While Abrams, the Georgia-based voting rights advocate, got the nod for children’s literature for the book, ‘Stacey’s Extraordinary Words’, which she co-wrote with Kitt Thomas, Will Smith, who is in the Oscars run for his work in the biopic ‘King Richard’, was feted with the literary biography laurel for telling his own story in ‘Will’, which was published late last year.Tyson won the literary award for debut author for her autobiography ‘Just As I Am’ which was published two days before her death at the age of 96 in January 2021. Sherri Shepherd and Kym Whitley laid their hands on the podcast honours for their work on ‘Two Funny Mamas’.