Saturday, February 28, 2026

57th NAACP Image Awards Return to Pasadena Civic Auditorium Saturday

The 57th NAACP Image Awards will be held Saturday evening at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., continuing a decades-long relationship with the venue, which has hosted the ceremony 15 times between 1992 and the 56th awards in 2025.

A red-carpet pre-show begins at 3 p.m. streaming on BET.com, followed by the live ceremony at 5 p.m. airing on CBS and other Paramount platforms, according to event organizers. Publicists for the show can be reached at NAACPImageAwards@ssmandl.com, ImagePublicist@naacpnet.org, Mercedes.Smith@bet.net, Erica.Knox@bet.net, Autumn.Griffin@bet.net, KHFisher@cbs.com and Victoria.Saavedra@paramount.com.

Sterling K. Brown, Regina Hall, Halle Bailey and Ryan Coogler are among the scheduled presenters. Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella are set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo will receive the President’s Award, which recognizes special achievement and distinguished public service. He was also nominated for two Image Awards for his role in and directing Netflix’s The Four Seasons. Multiple award-winning actress and activist Viola Davis will receive the Chairman’s Award and was nominated for her role in the action-thriller G20.

Awards in several film and television categories were presented Thursday during a non-televised Creative Honors event. Sinners, which entered the Image Awards with 18 nominations, won four awards, including best writing and directing for Coogler and supporting acting honors for Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo. The film had also won three awards during a separate non-televised virtual presentation earlier in the week.

Additional trophies were handed out during three non-televised virtual ceremonies held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Michelle Obama, Will Packer and Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show were among the winners on the first night. Lamar, SZA and Cardi B were recognized on the second night. On the third night, multiple awards went to Sinners, Gracie’s Corner, Ironheart and Celebrity Family Feud.

Comedian and actor Deon Cole will return as host of the ceremony, which will air live on BET and CBS. The Image Awards are billed as an annual celebration of Black excellence across a wide array of categories.

The Pasadena Civic Auditorium has served as an on-and-off home base for the Image Awards for more than three decades. Earlier cycles in the 2000s were held at venues like the Universal Amphitheatre from 2001 to 2004, underscoring that Pasadena has been a recurring but not exclusive host. NAACP and BET materials identify the Civic as the live broadcast site for the 54th, 56th and upcoming 57th awards.

Past Pasadena stagings have included notable moments. At a 2018 ceremony at the Civic, coverage highlighted host Anthony Anderson’s political monologue referencing the Trump administration, with multiple winners calling for civic involvement and social justice. Producer Will Packer, accepting for Girls Trip, criticized then-President Trump’s reported immigration comments.

The 54th Image Awards in 2023 marked the first live ceremony in three years following COVID-era virtual and hybrid formats, with local coverage emphasizing the significance of returning to an in-person show at the Civic. The 56th awards in 2025 were framed as a tribute to Black achievement and to communities affected by Los Angeles-area wildfires earlier that year, with calls to support recovery efforts.