Membership Awards

This award is for individual contributors to the overall growth of NAACP Membership and awardee(s) must be submitted by the leadership of the Unit to Membership Services.  A winner from each Region will be chosen. In the case of multiple entries, National Staff will choose a winner based on the following criteria: 

• A positive attitude about the NAACP and has submitted their request to tell their "I AM A NAACP Member" Story.
• Is prepared, organized, and works within timelines as demonstrated as leading a Membership Drive in the last year.
• Has succeeded in selling NAACP memberships.
• Has a high-level teamwork, integrity and honesty. 

2026 Recipients: 

• Satia Austin
• Gloria Benfield
• Theodis Pace
• Webster Davis
• Yvette Lewis
• Shevann Steuben
• Jalen Vince

The NAACP Benjamin L. Hooks "Keeper of the Flame" Award was established in 1992 in honor of the late Benjamin Lawson Hooks, the fifth Executive Director of the NAACP (1977-1992). This award recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional service in advancing the objectives of the NAACP, the labor movement, and the NAACP Labor Committee.

The award is presented to individuals who:

• Distinguish themselves by significantly contributing to racial equality and fairness in the workplace and society.
• Enthusiastically support civil rights, worker rights, and justice for all people.
• Foster and encourage positive outcomes in civic engagement and the political process, locally and/or nationally.
• Display outstanding leadership qualities.
• Uphold and practice the tenets of a democratic society, including the belief that all people are created equal and that freedom is a God-given right that must be vigilantly protected at all times and at all levels of government.

2026 Recipients

• James Felton Keith
• James R. Mapp
• Donna Waddell
• André Washington
• Joseph Maceo George 

Ella Baker began her involvement with the NAACP in 1940. She worked as a field secretary and then served as director of branches from 1943 until 1946. Inspired by the historic bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, Baker co-founded the organization In Friendship to raise money to fight against Jim Crow Laws in the deep South. In 1957, Baker moved to Atlanta to help organize Martin Luther King's new organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). She also ran a voter registration campaign called the Crusade for Citizenship. 

The Ella Jo Baker Award will be awarded to the top three Units in each category with the highest membership percent increase between May 1, 2025, and June 17, 2026. Five awards will be presented during the National Membership Luncheon Monday, July 15, 2024:

• Units that started with 100 or less.
• Units that started with 101-250 members.
• Units that started with 251-500 or more.
• Units that started with 501 or more. 

2026 Recipients: 

• Princeton Univ. NAACP
• Southwest Guilford High School
• Putnam County (Eatonton) Branch
• East Chicago Branch
• Camden Co. Branch
• Middletown Branch
• Staten Island Branch
• Halifax County Branch
• Winston County
• New Hanover County Branch
• Fort Lauderdale/Broward Branch
• Islip Town Branch

Lucille Black retired as national membership secretary of the National Association for the   Advancement of Colored People. Miss Black joined the association in 1927 and became membership secretary in 1945. Her duties expanded to include planning, coordinating and supervising membership drives, acknowledging and recording memberships and attending branch meetings throughout the country. 

For the Membership Chair and Unit with the highest total of new memberships added between May 1, 2025, and June 17, 2026.  Two separate awards for Adult and Youth and College will be presented during the National Membership Luncheon.

2026 Awardees:

• Memphis Branch
• Howard Univ. NAACP

This award is given to the top Unit and team that has earned or qualified for all the awards and received the highest in each category.

To qualify, your Unit must have: 

• 100 or more active members 
• Raised $5000 or more in membership revenues (includes corporate)  
• Increased membership by at least 25%. The winners will have increased membership by the highest percentage growth in the past year

2026 Recipient:

• Atlanta Branch

This award is recognition of those Units that celebrated 100 years as a chartered Unit in the current year.  For this year, we will recognize units that have reached this centennial milestone within the last five years.  

This award is open to all Units, for the Membership Chair and team who signed up at least 100 new members between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.  Members must be reported in the Membership Portal on or before June 17, 2024.  Awards will be available for pick up immediately following the National Membership Luncheon on Monday, July 15, 2024. 

This award is open to all Units and for the Membership Chair and team who sold at least $5000.00 in memberships between May 1, 2023, and June 17, 2024.  Awards will be available for pick up immediately following the National Membership Luncheon Monday, July 15, 2024.