News | Feb 22, 2022 11:43 AM EST

Cicely Tyson, Will Smith, And Jemele Hill Win Big At The 53rd NAACP Image Awards

By Adam Mock

(Photo : Getty Images) Will Smith, Cicely Tyson, Jemele Hill Win NAACP Image Awards

The 53rd NAACP Image Awards are underway and some most deserving winners have already been announced.

The show, which will not be televising all of the categories, has been going the virtual route this year, giving out awards beginning February 21st and continuing until the 26th with the final night being televised on The BET Network. All other awards can be found in a live-stream format on the Image Awards' YouTube channel and NAACPImageAwards.net.

The winners of this year's awards so far have included Will Smith and the late-great Cicely Tyson, who passed away in January 2021. Both actors received their awards for their books, Smith for Will in Outstanding Literary Work- Biography/Autobiography and Tyson for Just As I Am in Outstanding Literary Work- Debut Author.

Other notable winners are voting-rights advocate Stacey Abrams who won for her children's book Stacey's Extraordinary Words, which she co-wrote with Kitt Thomas, while journalist Jemele Hill took home two awards for her podcast Jemele Hill is Unbothered.

Actor/comedian Affion Crockett will be hosting the Image Awards every night along with a bevy of celebrity presenters who include Aida Rodriquez, Asiahn Bryant, Clint Coley, Lori Harvey, Luke Lawal, Jr., Marcel Spears, Matt Cedeno, Melissa L. Williams, Wendy Raquel Robinson, and Wisdom Cole.

You can check out the live-stream event for yourself by visiting https://naacpimageawards.net/. There you can also find a full list of schedules, nominations, and winners. For now, see who has won so far down below. Congratulations to them and best of luck to the nominees.

Monday, Feb. 21:

Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction

"Long Division" - Kiese Laymon

Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction

"The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story" - Nikole Hannah-Jones

Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author

"Just As I Am" - Cicely Tyson

Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/ Autobiography

"Will"- Will Smith

Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional

"Feeding the Soul (Because It's My Business)" - Tabitha Brown

Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry