Star Trek: Picard director Hanelle Culpepper wins NAACP Image Award

Hanelle Culpepper, director of Star Trek: Picard “Remembrance”

APRIL 8, 2021 - The results are in from the 52nd Annual NAACP Image Awards, which are presented annually to recognize outstanding Black achievements in film, television, music and literature. At this year’s awards, which took place on March 27th, director Hanelle Culpepper won for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for the pilot episode of Star Trek: Picard season one, “Remembrance”. We learned about the results from The Hollywood Reporter.

Culpepper’s win comes hot on the heels of her recent guest column in Deadline. In the piece, Culpepper addressed the importance of Star Trek’s commitment toward diversity over the history of the franchise. “I’m honored to be nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series,” Culpepper wrote in the column. “The NAACP Image Awards are an appropriate venue for honoring the Star Trek universe, because the franchise has been speaking to issues of diversity and representation for well over half a century.”

Culpepper secured the award for Outstanding Director in a Drama Series above fellow nominees Cheryl Dunye, Misha Green, Nzingha Stewart and Steve McQueen.

Culpepper wasn’t this year’s only nomination from the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek: Lower Decks and Lower Decks voice actor Dawnn Lewis were both up for awards: Lower Decks was nominated for Outstanding Animated Series, and Lewis was nominated for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for her work as Captain Freeman on Lower Decks. The Outstanding Animated Series award ended up going to the Disney animated series Doc McStuffins, with Doc McStuffins voice actor Laya DeLeon Hayes edging out Lewis for the voiceover win.

You can watch all of the nominated performances from both Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks, now streaming on Paramount+.