Black Reel Awards
Awarded for	Excellence in African-American Films
Country	United States
Presented by	Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film
First awarded	February 16, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-02-16)
Last awarded	2022
Website	blackreelawards.com
24th Annual Black Reel Awards →

The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African Americans in film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the African diaspora, in the global film industry, as assessed by the foundation’s voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially called the Black Reel Award. The awards, first presented in 2000 in Washington, DC, are overseen by FAAAF.

The awards ceremony was initially awarded online during its first two years before the first live show presentation in 2002. The awards have broadcast to radio since 2014. The Black Reel Awards is the oldest cinema-exclusive awards ceremony for African Americans.

History

Founded by film critic Tim Gordon and Sabrina McNeal in 2000, the first annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held on February 16, 2000, online courtesy of Reel Images Magazine.^[1] Two years later, the third annual Black Reel Awards held its first live presentation at a private dinner function at the Cada Vez in Washington, DC, with an audience of about 150 people. Twenty statuettes were awarded, honoring African American artists, directors and other participants in the filmmaking industry, for their works in 2001. The ceremony ran for 90 minutes.

In subsequent years, the Black Reel Awards have largely been presented in the nation's capital, with the exception of one year when the awards were moved to New York. The awards have been presented live several times: the fourth annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held at H₂O on the Southwest waterfront in Washington, DC with an audience of about 200 people; the sixth annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held at the French Embassy with an audience of about 350 people; and the thirteenth annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held at the MIST Harlem with an audience of about 200 people.

Initially winners were announced online. Later, the live awards presentations would use a sealed envelope to reveal the name of each winner.

The Black Reel Awards benefit the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF), a non-profit arts organization whose mission is to provide educational opportunities to future minority film executives. Through the FAAAF programs "Reel Kids", and "Producer's Institute", scholarships are awarded to minority junior high, high school and college graduate students pursuing careers in the movie and television industries.

In 2015, the foundation changed its name to the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film.^[2]

Institutions

The first Outstanding Actor award was given to Denzel Washington for his performance in The Hurricane.^[3] He subsequently received the same honor the next two years, for his performances in Remember the Titans and Training Day.^[4][5]

At the 3rd Annual Black Reel Awards ceremony, held on February 16, 2002, the Outstanding Foreign Film category was introduced.

The 6th Annual Black Reel Awards, held in 2005, presented the first Vanguard Award for entertainer of the year to Jamie Foxx for his performances in Collateral, Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, and Ray.

Each of the Black Reel Awards ceremonies has ended with the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Film.

Black Reel Awards statuette

Motion picture categories

• Outstanding Film: since 2000
• Outstanding Leading Performance: since 2024
• Outstanding Director: since 2000
• Outstanding Supporting Performance: since 2024
• Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted or Original: since 2000
• Outstanding Ensemble: since 2006
• Outstanding Documentary: since 2010
• Outstanding Foreign Film: since 2012
• Outstanding World Cinema Film: since 2017
• Outstanding Original Score: since 2011
• Outstanding Original Song: since 2001
• Outstanding Voice Performance: since 2013

Independent & next generation categories

• Outstanding Independent Film: since 2002
• Outstanding Independent Documentary: since 2010
• Outstanding Independent Short Film: since 2010
• Outstanding Breakthrough Performance: since 2003
• Outstanding Emerging Director: since 2017
• Outstanding First Screenplay: since 2017

Professional categories

• Outstanding Cinematography : Since 2019
• Outstanding Costume Design: Since 2019
• Outstanding Production Design: Since 2019
• Outstanding Editing: Since 2022

Discontinued categories

Television

• Outstanding Original Television Program: 2001 to 2005

Film

• Outstanding Actor: 2000 to 2023
• Outstanding Actress: 2000 to 2023
• Outstanding Actor – Independent Film: 2002 to 2005
• Outstanding Actress – Independent Film: 2003 to 2005
• Outstanding Actor – Drama: 2005 only
• Outstanding Actor – Comedy or Musical: 2005 only
• Outstanding Actress – Drama: 2005 only
• Outstanding Actress – Musical or Comedy: 2005 only
• Outstanding Supporting Actor: 2000 to 2023
• Outstanding Supporting Actress: 2000 to 2023
• Outstanding Supporting Actor – Drama: 2005 only
• Outstanding Supporting Actor – Comedy or Musical
• Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama: 2005 only
• Outstanding Supporting Actress – Musical or Comedy: 2005 only
• Outstanding Film – Drama: 2005 only
• Outstanding Film – Musical or Comedy: 2005 only
• Outstanding Film Poster: 2001 to 2002
• Outstanding Original Soundtrack: 2000 to 2009

In 2005, three categories, Outstanding Actor, Outstanding Actress, as well as Outstanding Film awards were split into two separate categories (Drama and Musical/Comedy). In addition, the Outstanding Original Television Program was discontinued in 2005 and later expanded and resurfaced in 2015 as the Outstanding Television Documentary or Special category.

In 2024, the categories for Outstanding Actor and Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress were retired in favor of gender-neutral Outstanding Lead Performance and Outstanding Supporting Performance categories.

Television categories

A television awards, known as the Black Reel Awards for Television was first presented on August 1, 2017. The awards honors performers, programs, directors and writers over 27 categories in drama, comedy, music, documentaries and TV Movie or Limited Series. The TV Movie or Limited Series categories, which previously were honored as part of the Black Reel Awards were moved to the television awards.

Special categories

The Special Black Reel Awards are voted on by special foundation committees, rather than by the voting academy membership as a whole. They are not always presented on a consistent annual basis.

Current special categories

• Vanguard Entertainer of the Year Award: since 2004
• Oscar Micheaux Filmmaker Distinction Award: since 2017
• Sidney Poitier Lifetime Achievement Award: since 2017
• Ruby Dee Humanitarian Award: since 2017
• Chadwick Boseman Vanguard Award: since 2024 ^[6]

Discontinued special categories

• Black Reel Award Special Achievement Award: 2004 to 2006

Ceremonies

Film nominations

Below are the motion picture films with 10 or more nominations. The Harder They Fall holds the record for the most nominations with 20 while Black Panther holds the record for most wins for a single film with 10 categorical wins. 12 Years a Slave, Selma, and Dolemite Is My Name are tied for second place with 8 wins apiece. BlacKkKlansman currently holds the record for most nominations without a single win (11).

Records

Film

Actors with multiple awards for motion picture performances

• D - indicates a winning role in drama categories (2005 ceremony)
• C/M - indicates a winning role in comedy or musical categories (2005 ceremony)
• I - indicates a winning role in Independent categories