US NAACP Image Awards 2024 winners announced.

The winners of the NAACP Image Awards 2024 in the literary categories were announced in a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States aimed at advancing justice for African Americans founded by a group including W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells in 1909. One of its most popular events is the Image Awards where the highest achieving Black people are awarded in a variety of fields since 1967. Some of the best writers in the USA were awarded in the literary categories in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

The nominees for 2024 in the different categories including fiction, nonfiction, poetry as well as work for children and youth/teens were announced on Thursday, January 25. The winners that were made public on Wednesday, March 13 are;

Fiction

• Family Lore, Elizabeth Acevedo (HarperCollins Publisher)

Acevedo said on Instagram, “One day I’ll talk about all these things when I have more distance, more clarity. But for now I’ll say, thank you to every reader of this novel. Thank you to every person who saw the art making, the experiments, and let me know they saw it and me. And thank you to the @naacpimageawards for choosing FAMILY LORE for this year’s literary award in fiction. May we all continue to make with wild abandon, with vast ambition; may we pit ourselves against the boundaries of craft with joy with dedication with love love love.”

Nonfiction

• The New Brownies’ Book: A Love Letter to Black Families, Karida L. Brown, Charly Palmer (Chonicle Books)

Charly Palmer said on Instagram, “@naacpimageawards Winner!!!! This doesn’t feel real. A sincere thanks to our incredible team, the 50 contributors, Chronicle Books, and the enduring support from each of you.”

Debut Author

• Rootless, Krystle Zara Appiah (Ballantine Books)

Krystle Zara Appiah tweeted, “An @naacpimageaward!! You have no idea how much this means. Thank you!”

Biography/Autobiography

• Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Tanisha C. Ford (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins)

Dr Ford said on Instagram, “till stunned…. WOW!! I won an NAACP IMAGE AWARD for Outstanding Literary Work in Biography! 😱 🙇🏾‍♀️ I did not see this coming. In fact, I was cleaning my house and packing while the virtual ceremony aired. I paid a bit more attention when I realized my category was being called…but didn’t really focus until I heard my name announced as the winner. I know it sounds cliche, but I was truly just honored to be nominated (frfr!). What a dream come true! #blessed 🙇🏾‍♀️🙏🏾♥️”

Poetry

• suddenly we, Evie Shockley (Wesleyan University Press)

Youth/ Teens

• Everyone’s Thinking It, Aleema Omotoni (HarperCollins – Imprint: Balzer + Bray)

Aleema Omotoni Tweeted, “I’M AN AWARD WINNING AUTHOR!!! 😭😭😭 I WON AN NAACP IMAGE AWARD!!! Thank you God, thank you so much to everyone that helped me get to this day, I’m so grateful to you all for loving and sharing EVERYONE’S THINKING IT! Thank you @naacpimageaward !!!”

Children

• “CROWNED: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora, Kahran Bethencourt (St. Martin’s Press)

Kahran Bethencourt said on Instagram, “OMGEeee! We WON!! We are officially NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNERS in the Outstanding Literary – Children’s category for our Crowned book!!! 🥳 We are so grateful to all of you who have supported our work over the years. Thank you SO much for our team and all of the models who helped to make this book a success. We are motivated more than ever to keep pushing boundaries and raising the bar. Thank you for being part of this journey and for believing in our vision. ❤️”

Graphic Novel

• The Talk, Darrin Bell (Henry Holt & Company)

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