Essence Hosts 19th Annual Black Women in Hollywood Awards Ceremony Next Month, See This Year’s Honorees
Just shy of two decades since Essence’s first Black Women in Hollywood Awards, the celebration is returning in March to honor the leading women of the film industry (those both behind the camera and in front of it), just in time for awards season.
This year’s 19th Black Women in Hollywood ceremony will feature spotlight honors of some of the most trailblazing women in the industry over the past year, including Kerry Washington, Chase Infiniti, La Tanya Richardson Jackson and Zinzi Coogler – plus a special shoutout to the women behind the Oscar nominee-record breaking film, “Sinners.”
Kerry Washington is being recognized for both her ever-expansive acting career (that has earned her an Emmy win and Golden Globe and Tony nominations), as well as her growing work behind-the-scenes where she has been creating her own projects and cultivating spaces for other storytellers to have their voices heard.
Chase Infiniti, acknowledged for her breakout role in the Oscar-nominee, “One Battle After Another,” is representative of the new generation of Hollywood actors carving out a space in the industry, met with immediate praise and international recognition.
La Tanya Richardson Jackson is a Tony and NAACP Image Award nominee whose career spans decades in theater and film, which combined with her community outreach and philanthropy highlights the fact that art and community altruism are mutually exceptional forms of leadership.
Zinzi Coogler rounds out the list of honorees for the event, where she’s being recognized for her fundamental contributions to the film industry through her role as a founder of Proximity Media and producer of various award-winning and culturally cutting-edge multimedia projects (like “Sinners”), demonstrating the growing role of producers as leaders of the industry rather than behind-the-scenes mediators.
Last year Tyra Banks won the first ever Luminary Spotlight Award, but this year Essence is giving the award not to a single individual, but to the team of women behind “Sinners,” the groundbreaking film that now holds the title for most Oscar nominations in motion picture history.
This special tribute honors Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Hannah Beachler, Jayme Lawson, Ruth E. Carter, Shunika Terry-Jennings, Wunmi Mosaku and Coogler – highlighting both the singular performances throughout the film, as well as the stellar visual craft, design, production and vision that propelled “Sinners” to the world stage, and cemented it in the history books.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Off Script,” which aims to not only highlight individual achievement, but a restructuring of the industry where “Black women in Hollywood are no longer navigating only within prescribed lanes of performance or supporting authorship. They are expanding beyond traditional roles, claiming creative control and building pathways toward long-term ownership across the industry,” as Essence puts it.
The event will be held on Thursday, March 12th at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, but you can tune in to watch it live on Essence’s Youtube channel.
