Past Festival Honorees

Nakia Hamilton 2022 Phoenix Award Winner	Matthew Head 2019 Honoree The Grenaldo Frazier Award for Music Production in Film
Joe Dunton 2016, Icon Award Recipient	Harold Jackson III 2015, Emerging Filmmaker Award, 14th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival
Alice Blake Powell 2014 Zenith Award 13th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival	Rhonda Bellamy Founder Emeritus (2014), Recipient of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement award She is the founder of the Black Arts Alliance and the NC Black Film Festival. Photo Credit: Visite Wilmington
Ava DuVernay 2011 Distinguished Filmmaker Honoree, 10th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival, Photo Credit: Houston Style Magazine	Giancarlo Esposito 2009 Prism Award, 8th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival, Photo Credit: Star News Online
Anthony Hemingway 2005 Trailblazer Award 4th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival 2008 Zenith Award 7th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival	April Weeden-Washington 2004 Trailblazer Award 3rd Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival
Dwayne McDuffie (late) 2006 Trailblazer Award 5th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival	Scott Sanders 2010 Distinguished Filmmaker 9th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival, Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
Eleanor Nichols 2012 Nova Award for Production Achievement, 11th Annual North Carolina Black Film Festival

Nakia Hamilton