Tyla has won the 2026 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding International Song.

• Tyla has won the 2026 NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding International Song category, for her hit song “Is It”.
• The award was announced Tuesday in a non-televised awards portion of the event, which formally takes place this Saturday in Pasadena, California.
• Trevor Noah, who has won five NAACP Image Awards, was nominated this year, but the award went to Don Lemon of CNN.

Tyla has won the 2026 NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding International Song category for her hit song Is It via Epic Records – affirming South Africa’s resonance on the global stage.

The prestigious award was announced last night as part of a group of non-televised accolades, in the run-up to this Saturday’s (28 February) televised 57th NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Image Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California.

Hosted by Deon Cole, the ceremony on BET and CBS will honour the top performers of colour in film, television, music and literature.

Johannesburg-born amapiano-pop megastar Tyla, who has won two Grammy awards in 2024 and 2026 – beat out a formidable line up, which included In Our Sight by Skip Marley (Def Jam Recordings); Love by Burna Boy (Spaceship/Bad Habit/Atlantic Records); With You by Davido featuring Omah Lay (RCA Records/Sony Music UK); and You4Me by Tiwa Savage (Everything Savage/EMPIRE).

SA comedian Trevor Noah, who has won five NAACP Image awards, was nominated again this year in the category for Outstanding Podcast – Society and Culture for What Now? With Trevor Noah (Day Zero Productions).

He was nominated alongside podcasts Baby, This is Keke Palmer (Wondery); Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay (The Ringer); IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson (Higher Ground); and The Don Lemon Show (Lemon Media Network). The award went to CNN host Lemon.

Still to come in Saturday’s formal awards ceremony – motion picture categories where visionary Ryan Coogler and his drama Sinners is leading the nominations with 18; Bel-Air with seven nods in TV; and Kendrick Lamar leading the pack with six.

Top nominees for Entertainer of the Year include Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Kendrick Lamar, Michael B Jordan and Teyana Taylor.

- Jen Su is an independent freelance writer reporting on fashion, arts, entertainment, celebrities, hospitality and global events. Su, a former presenter of The Hollywood Report on 5FM Gareth Cliff Mornings and Sky News’ The African Business Report, has contributed to the Sunday Times, Fox 29 News, People Magazine, and Forbes Africa.