For the presenters, performers and award recipients at this year’s MU National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Awards, the ceremony was a chance to be recognized for their work in the black community.
Celebrating achievements of MU faculty and staff, NAACP Unit 4731 hosted the eighth annual Image Awards ceremony Sunday in Stotler Lounge. The ceremony recognized students and faculty who have made an impact on MU.
MU’s chapter of the NAACP was originally founded in 1989 and this year’s award ceremony marked the eighth time MU students and faculty have been recognized.
While welcoming the crowd to the awards show, MU NAACP executive member John Mitchell said he was honored to be able to recognize MU faculty and staff alike.
“I’m a firm believer that anything is possible,” Mitchell said.
This year’s edition of the awards presentation also included a new segment, a gallery displaying MU student’s contributions to the medium of visual arts.
During the ceremony, the NAACP presented awards such as Organization of the Year, Adviser of the Year and Achievement in Creative Arts. Other awards included achievement awards for an outstanding freshman and the Langston Hughes Award for achievement in the medium of the written and spoken word.
Senior Kam Phillips was also recognized for her work with Dream Outside the Box, a program that was recently a finalist for President Obama’s Campus Champions of Change Challenge. Phillips recently traveled to Washington D.C. to meet Obama and be recognized for being a finalist in the competition.
Although Phillips was unable to attend the ceremony, her coworker in Dream Outside the Box, senior Breana Jones, accepted the award on her behalf. Jones, who works as the director of public relations for Dream Outside the Box said the organization grew from having nine participants in 2009 to now having a once-a-week program at the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia with a member base of 150 participants.
“We began with zero money in our account, literally doing everything with the help of student organizations,” Jones said. “We’ve gone from that to being featured on MTVU and receiving an award from them.”
The latter portion of the awards were presented by the MU Black Studies program that recognized the work of students and staff who had contributed to their Black History Month contest held in February. Three prizes were given out to student projects.
Giving a special presentation at the event, assistant black studies professor Stephanie Shonekan spoke to the audience about looking ahead to the future regarding popular music for black musicians.
“I no longer want to sit back and see our voices, our music, our stories silenced by mainstream media,” Shonekan said.
The ceremony also included a variety of performances, ranging from singing to a dance sequence and a poetry performance.
Senior Justin McCain performed a spoken word piece written to his future grandson that he said resolved around the word legacy.
“We all want to leave a piece of ourselves at this university,” McCain said. “You want to leave your name here. So I have a challenge for all you freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Do something so great by the time that you leave here that no man, woman or child could do it better.”
