NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. The award was first given during the 2007 ceremony and since its conception, Shonda Rhimes holds the record for the most wins with five and is currently the only writer to win in this category more than once.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

2000s

Year	Writer	Series	Episode	Ref
2007
	Shonda Rhimes	Grey's Anatomy	"It's the End of the World"	[1]
	Steven Maeda	Day Break	"What if He Lets Her Go"
	Aaron Rahsaan Thomas	Friday Night Lights	"Full Hearts"
	Naren Shankar	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	"Killer"
	Janine Sherman Barrois	ER	"Darfur"
2008
	Shonda Rhimes and Krista Vernoff	Grey's Anatomy	"A Change is Gonna Come"	[2]
	Natalie Chaidez	Heroes	"The Fix"
	Kathleen McGhee-Anderson and Anthony Sparks	Lincoln Heights	"The Vision"
	Shonda Rhimes	Private	"In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else"
	Janine Sherman Barrois	ER	"Breach of Trust"
2009
	Shonda Rhimes	Grey's Anatomy	"Freedom" (Parts I and II)	[3]
	Liz Friedman and Sara Hess	House	"Lucky Thirteen"
	Kathleen McGhee-Anderson	Lincoln Heights	"Glass House"
	Aaron Rahsaan Thomas	Friday Night Lights	"Leave No One Behind"
	Janine Sherman Barrois	ER	"Parental Guidance"

2010s

Year	Writer	Series	Episode	Ref
2010
	Shonda Rhimes	Grey's Anatomy	"What a Difference a Day Makes"	[4]
	Zoanne Clack	Grey's Anatomy	"Stand By Me"
	Sara Hess	House	"The Greater Good"
	Kathleen McGhee-Anderson	Lincoln Heights	"Home Again"
	Alexander Woo	True Blood	"Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"
2011
	Shonda Rhimes	Private Practice	"Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?"	[5]
	Leyani Diaz and Vanessa Rojas	The Event	"Loyalty"
	Judy McCreary	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	"Disabled"
	Janine Sherman Barrois	Criminal Minds	"Remembrance of Things Past"
	Alexander Woo	True Blood	"It Hurts Me Too"
2012
	Lolis Eric Elie	Treme	"Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get the Blues?"	[6]
	Zoanne Clack	Grey's Anatomy	"I Will Survive"
	Cheo Hodari Coker	Southland	"Punching Water"
	Janine Sherman Barrois	Criminal Minds	"The Bittersweet Science"
	Pam Veasey	Ringer	"Oh Gawd, There's Two of Them?"
2013
	Cheo Hodari Coker	Southland	"God's Work"	[7]
	Zoanne Clack	Grey's Anatomy	"This Magic Moment"
	Shonda Rhimes		"Flight"
		Scandal	"Sweet Baby"
	Janine Sherman Barrois	Criminal Minds	"The Pact"
2014
	Janine Sherman Barrois	Criminal Minds	"Strange Fruit"	[8]
	Karin Gist	Revenge	"Mercy"
	Sara Hess	Orange Is the New Black	"Blood Donut"
	Damian Kindler and Chitra Elizabeth Sampath	Sleepy Hollow	"Sanctuary"
	Aaron Rahsaan Thomas	Southland	"Babel"
2015
	Erika Green Swafford	How to Get Away with Murder	"Let's Get to Scooping"	[9]
	Mara Brock Akil	Being Mary Jane	"Uber Love"
	Zoanne Clack	Grey's Anatomy	"You Be Illin'"
	Warren Leight and Julie Martin	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	"American Disgrace"
	Zahir McGhee	Scandal	"Mama Said Knock You Out"
2016
	Mara Brock Akil, Jameal Turner and Keli Goff	Being Mary Jane	"Sparrow"	[10]
	Lee Daniels	Empire	"Pilot"
	Erika Green Swafford and Doug Stockstill	How to Get Away with Murder	"Mama's Here Now"
	LaToya Morgan	Turn: Washington's Spies	"False Flag"
	John Ridley	American Crime	"Episode 1"
2017
	Ava DuVernay	Queen Sugar	"First Things First"	[11]
	Joe Robert Cole	The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story	"The Race Card"
	Akela Cooper	Luke Cage	"Manifest"
	LaToya Morgan	Turn: Washington's Spies	"Benediction"
	Anthony Sparks	Queen Sugar	"By Any Chance"
2018
	Gina Prince-Bythewood	Shots Fired	"Hour One: Pilot"
	Anthony Sparks	Queen Sugar	"What Do I Care For Morning"
	Ava DuVernay	Queen Sugar	"Dream Variations"
	Erica L. Anderson	Greenleaf	"The Bear"
	Vera Herbert	This Is Us	"Still Here"
2019
	Kay Oyegun	This Is Us	"This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life"	[12]
	Janine Sherman Barrois	Claws	"Cracker Casserole"
	Lena Waithe	The Chi	"Pilot"
	Patrick Joseph Charles	Black Lightning	"Sins of the Father: The Book of Redemption"
	Lena Waithe & Dime Davis	The Chi	"The Whistle"

2020s

Year	Writer	Series	Episode	Ref
2020
	Nichelle Tramble Spellman	Truth Be Told	"Monster"	[13]
	Nkechi Okoro Carroll	All American	"Hussle & Motivate"
	Pat Charles	Black Lightning	"The Book of Secrets: Chapter One: Prodigal Son"
	Damon Lindelof & Cord Jefferson	Watchmen	"This Extraordinary Being"
	Ava DuVernay & Michael Starrbury	When They See Us	"Part Four"
2021
	Attica Locke	Little Fires Everywhere	"The Spider Web"	[14]
	Erika L. Johnson & Mark Richard	The Good Lord Bird	"A Wicked Plot"
	Jessica Lamour	Little Voice	"Love Hurts"
	Katori Hall	P-Valley	"Perpetratin"
	Tanya Barfield	Mrs. America	"Shirley"
2022
	Davita Scarlett	The Good Fight	"And the Firm Had Two Partners"	[15]
	Nkechi Okoro Carroll	All American	"Homecoming"
	Malcolm Spellman	The Falcon and the Winter Soldier	"New World Order"
	Aurin Squire	Evil	"C Is for Cop"
	Steven Canals, Janet Mock, Our Lady J, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy	Pose	"Series Finale"

Multiple wins and nominations

Wins

5 wins

• Shonda Rhimes

Nominations

8 nominations Janine Sherman Barrois 7 nominations Shonda Rhimes 4 nominations Zoanne Clack 3 nominations Ava DuVernay Sara Hess Kathleen McGhee-Anderson Aaron Rahsaan Thomas Anthony Sparks

2 nominations Mara Brock Akil Nkechi Okoro Carroll Patrick Joseph Charles Erika Green Swafford Cheo Hodari Coker LaToya Morgan Pam Veasey Lena Waithe Alexander Woo