NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series. The award was first given during the 2006 ceremony and since its inception, Paris Barclay; Ernest R. Dickerson; and Carl Franklin hold the record for the most wins with two each.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

2000s

Year	Director	Series	Episode	Ref
2006
	Paris Barclay	Cold Case	N/A	[1]
	Philip G. Atwell	The Shield	—
	Janice Cooke	Charmed
		One Tree Hill
		Summerland
2007
	Karen Gaviola	Lost	"The Whole Truth"	[2]
	Paris Barclay	Cold Case	"Saving Sammy"
	Anthony Hemingway	Close to Home	"Prodigal Son"
	Seith Mann	The Wire	"Homerooms"
	Craig Ross Jr.	Bones	"Aliens in a Spaceship"
2008
	Seith Mann	Friday Night Lights	"Are You Ready For Friday Night"	[3]
	Paris Barclay	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	"Meet Market"
	Roxann Dawson	Heroes	"Run!"
	Kevin Hooks	Lincoln Heights	"Pilot"
	Darnell Martin	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	"Bombshell"
2009
	Ernest R. Dickerson	Lincoln Heights	"The Day Before Tomorrow"	[4]
	Paris Barclay	In Treatment	"Alex-Week 8"
	Anthony Hemingway	Heroes	"Chapter Five: Angels & Monsters"
	Eriq La Salle	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	"PTSD"
	Seith Mann	The Wire	"The Dickensian Aspect"

2010s

Year	Director	Series	Episode	Ref
2010
	Chandra Wilson	Grey's Anatomy	"Give Peace a Chance"	[5]
	Paris Barclay	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	"Coup de Grace"
	Ernest R. Dickerson	Dexter	"Road Kill"
	Edward James Olmos	Battlestar Galactica	"Islanded in a Stream of Stars"
	Kevin Sullivan	Lincoln Heights	"Home Again"
2011
	Millicent Shelton	Men of a Certain Age	"Go with the Flow"	[6]
	Félix Enríquez Alcalá	Southland	"What Makes Sammy Run?"
	Paris Barclay	In Treatment	"Sunil: Week 6"
	Seith Mann	Friday Night Lights	"Injury List"
	Stephen Williams	Undercovers	"Instructions"
2012
	Ernest R. Dickerson	Treme	"Do Watcha Wanna"	[7]
	Paris Barclay	Sons of Anarchy	"Out"
	Seith Mann	Dexter	"Get Gellar"
	Kevin Rodney Sullivan	NCIS	"Tell-All"
	Ken Whittingham	Parenthood	"Opening Night"
2013
	Paris Barclay	Smash	"The Coup"	[8]
	Thomas Carter	The Mob Doctor	"Legacy"
	Ernest R. Dickerson	Treme	"Don't You Leave Me Here"
	Kevin Hooks	Last Resort	"Blue on Blue"
	Mario Van Peebles	Boss	"Backflash"
2014
	Regina King	Southland	"Off Duty"	[9]
	Ernest R. Dickerson	Treme	"Dippermouth Blues"
	Carl Franklin	House of Cards	"Chapter 11"
	Rob Hardy	Criminal Minds	"Carbon Copy"
	Millicent Shelton	The Fosters	"Clean"
2015
	Carl Franklin	House of Cards	"Chapter 14"	[10]
	Anton Cropper	Suits	"One-Two-Three Go..."
	Hanelle Culpepper	Criminal Minds	"The Edge of Winter"
	Cary Joji Fukunaga	True Detective	"Who Goes There?"
	Millicent Shelton	The Divide	"And the Little Ones Get Caught"
2016
	John Ridley	American Crime	"Episode 1"	[11]
	Salim Akil	Being Mary Jane	"Sparrow"
	Lee Daniels	Empire	"Pilot"
	Ernest R. Dickerson	Hand of God	"Welcome the Stranger"
	Millicent Shelton	American Crime	Episode 10
2017
	John Singleton	The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story	"The Race Card"	[12]
	Paris Barclay	Pitch	"Pilot"
	Sam Esmail	Mr. Robot	"eps2.5_h4ndshake.sme"
	Anthony Hemingway	Underground	"The Macon 7"
	Millicent Shelton	Empire	"The Lyon Who Cried Wolf"
2018
	Carl Franklin	13 Reasons Why	"Tape 5, Side B"	[13]
	Jeffrey Byrd	Switched at Birth	"Occupy Truth"
	Jonathan Demme	Shots Fired	"Hour Six: The Fire This Time"
	Ernest R. Dickerson	The Deuce	"Show and Prove"
	Gina Prince-Bythewood	Shots Fired	"Hour One: Pilot"
2019
	Deborah Chow	Better Call Saul	"Something Stupid"	[14]
	Ayoka Chenzira	Queen Sugar	"Here Beside the River"
	Dee Rees	Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams	"Kill All Others"
	Salli Richardson-Whitfield	Luke Cage	"I Get Physical"
	Zetna Fuentes	How to Get Away with Murder	"Lahey v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"

2020s

Year	Director	Series	Episode	Ref
2020
	Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson	Power	"Forgot About Dre"	[15]
	Ava DuVernay	When They See Us	"Part Four"
	Carl H. Seaton, Jr.	Snowfall	"Hedgehogs"
	Debbie Allen	Grey's Anatomy	"Silent All These Years"
	Jet Wilkinson	The Chi	"The Scorpion and the Frog"
2021
	Hanelle Culpepper	Star Trek: Picard	"Remembrance"	[16]
	Cheryl Dunye	Lovecraft Country	"Strange Case"
	Misha Green	Lovecraft Country	"Jig-a-Bobo"
	Nzingha Stewart	Little Fires Everywhere	"The Uncanny"
	Steve McQueen	Small Axe	Mangrove
2022
	Barry Jenkins	The Underground Railroad	"Indiana Winter"	[17]
	Hanelle Culpepper	True Story	"Like Cain Did Abel"
	Anthony Hemingway	Genius: Aretha	"Respect"
	Carl Seaton	Snowfall	"Fight or Flight"
		Godfather of Harlem	"The Bonanno Split"
2024	Dawn Wilkinson	Power Book II: Ghost	"Sacrifice"

Multiple wins and nominations

Wins

2 wins

• Paris Barclay
• Ernest R. Dickerson
• Carl Franklin

Nominations

9 nominations Paris Barclay 7 nominations Ernest R. Dickerson 5 nominations Seith Mann Millicent Shelton

4 nominations Anthony Hemingway 3 nominations Janice Cooke Hanelle Culpepper Carl Franklin 2 nominations Kevin Hooks Carl Seaton Kevin Sullivan