Friday, February 13, 2026

Viola Davis to Receive Chairman’s Award at NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena

[photo credit: BET]

The EGOT winner will be honored for public service at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 28, adding to her nine previous Image Awards

Viola Davis, one of the most decorated performers in American entertainment, will receive the Chairman’s Award at the 57th NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 28 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the NAACP announced Thursday.

The Chairman’s Award honors individuals who “excel in public service and leverage their unique platforms to ignite and drive meaningful change,” according to the NAACP. Davis was recognized specifically for her activism beyond the screen, including her work with programs to eradicate childhood hunger and the recent launch of the Davis-Tennon Foundation.

Davis holds EGOT status — an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and two Tony Awards — and has collected nine NAACP Image Awards for her performances in “How to Get Away With Murder,” “The Woman King,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Fences,” “Won’t Back Down” and “The Help,” as well as for her 2022 memoir “Finding Me,” according to Variety.

“Viola Davis is a generational talent who has commanded audiences with her powerful and transcending performances,” Leon W. Russell, chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors, said in a statement. He acknowledged Davis for her “deeply impactful commitment to driving change.”

“Through a career defined by excellence and courage, she has used her platform to work towards opportunity and equity, crafting an undeniable legacy for generations to come,” Russell said. “We look forward to celebrating her and the trailblazing path she has created for herself and others to follow.”

Connie Orlando, executive vice president of specials, music programming and music strategy at BET, called Davis someone who “exemplifies what it means to use one’s platform in service of others,” in a statement. Orlando said the Chairman’s Award “recognizes a legacy defined not only by excellence in entertainment, but by an enduring commitment to public service.”

Davis is also nominated this year for a competitive Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Television Series, Special or Movie for her role in the Amazon MGM Studios action-thriller “G20.”

Past Chairman’s Award recipients include former Vice President Kamala Harris, poet Amanda Gorman, Samuel L. Jackson, the late Rep. John Lewis, Tyler Perry and then-Senator Barack Obama, according to the NAACP.

The 57th NAACP Image Awards ceremony will air live at 8 p.m. on BET and CBS. Comedian Deon Cole returns as host. Other special honorees during Image Awards week include A$AP Rocky, who will receive the Vanguard Award for fashion on Feb. 27, and Rev. Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, who will receive the Mildred Bond Roxborough Social Justice Impact Award at the Creative Honors on Feb. 26.

The Pasadena Civic Auditorium has hosted the NAACP Image Awards more than 15 times since 1992. Davis recently received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2025 Golden Globes and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame last summer.

The announcement came the same week as the NAACP’s nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills. Public voting in select categories has closed, with winners to be revealed during the Feb. 28 broadcast from Pasadena.