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Artist David Banner, Pastor Shirley Caesar and business entrepreneur Janice Bryant Howroyd will be saluted at the 2025 HBCU Honors. BET returns as presenting partner of the third annual celebration, which will premiere Thanksgiving weekend on BET and BET Her (Nov. 30, 8 p.m. ET/PT).
Grammy-nominated rapper-producer-activist Banner, an alumnus of Southern University, will be presented with the Cultural Impact Award. Also an actor (BET’s The Family Business), Banner is being recognized for his multi-faceted pursuits as an artist, founder/CEO of full-service music and production agency A Banner Vision, and humanitarian, stemming from his organizing of relief efforts during Hurricane Katrina.
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Shirley “The First Lady of Gospel” Caesar, senior pastor of Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church in Durham, North Carolina, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Shaw University graduate’s six-decade career encompasses more than 40 albums, 11 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The Visionary Founder Award will go to Howroyd, founder/CEO of The ActOne Group, a global enterprise that provides employment, workforce management and other services to a diverse range of industries and businesses. Howroyd is an alumna of North Carolina A&T State University.
Being taped at a new location — the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. — HBCU Honors is also implementing two new initiatives this year focused on discovering and developing next-gen creative talent. The HBCU Honors Rising Star National Talent Search is open to HBCU students who will be vying for the chance to perform live on the HBCU Honors stage. Judging the competition will be Tony Award–winning actor and Bowie State University alum Myles Frost; American Idol finalist Gabby Samone; GRAMMY-nominated artist Raheem Devaughn, who attended Coppin State University; and HBCU Honors music director Shawn Williams.
The second initiative, HBCU Honors Media Futures Fellowship, was created by The HBCU Honors Foundation as a workforce development and mentorship program. The 2025 participating cohort includes students from Johnson C. Smith University, Lincoln University of Missouri, and Spelman College.
Emmy-nominated actress, comedian and podcaster Kym Whitley is returning as host. About her return engagement, the Fisk University alumna commented in the press announcement, “Hosting HBCU Honors again feels like coming home. This show is a joyful reminder of everything our schools represent — faith, excellence, community and legacy.”
HBCU Honors was established by Michelle M. Bailey. Doubling as an executive producer of the event, Bailey said in a statement, “We’re in a defining moment where the legacy of HBCUs deserves not only to be preserved but amplified. Our return to BET celebrates the unity, pride and progress that define HBCU excellence — the same excellence that nurtured me at my beloved alma mater, Spelman College. Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to honor the institutions that continue to educate, empower and shape generations of trailblazers.”
