The Help collected three prizes at the NAACP Image Awards, including top actress honours for Viola Davis, the supporting actress prize for Octavia Spencer and outstanding motion picture.
Davis and Spencer have collected armloads of accolades for their work in the film about black maids who speak out against their white employers during the civil rights movement. Both are up for Academy Awards.
Davis said the film has "just been the joy of my life."
"I found my voice," she said. "I just emerged through The Help.
The film is co-produced by ImageNation, Abu Dhabi.The ceremony on Friday at the Shrine Auditorium, which honoured diversity in the arts, was punctuated by moving tributes to Whitney Houston, the Black Stuntmen's Association and George Lucas and the Tuskegee Airmen.
Yolanda Adams sang the spiritual song I Love the Lord, He Heard My Cry as part of a tribute to Houston. "We love you, Nip," Adams said as she finished the song, referring to the singer's nickname.
Footage of Houston accepting the Image Award for outstanding female artist in 1994 was shown, as was Denzel Washington's presentation of that award, in which he called her an "artist of unparalleled stature."
Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte presented the President's Award to the Black Stuntmen's Association, which was established in 1967 to break racial barriers and earn black performers a place alongside white stuntmen in film and television. Samuel L. Jackson presented Lucas with the Vanguard Award for his body of work.
