John Jennings, a professor of media and cultural studies at UC Riverside, has won a 2026 NAACP Image Award for his graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s science fiction novel “Parable of the Talents.”

The illustrator and his longtime collaborators, writer Damian Duffy and artist David Brame, were honored for Outstanding Literary Work – Graphic Novel on Monday, Feb. 24. 

Other winners include former First Lady Michelle Obama and rapper Kendrick Lamar in the annual awards, which honor multicultural work and highlight artists who inspire equality, justice, and progressive change. Headquartered in Baltimore, NAACP is the nation's oldest civil rights organization. 

“Parable of the Talents” is a sequel to “Parable of the Sower,” which Jennings and his creative partners also adapted into a graphic novel and won a 2021 Hugo Award. Jennings and Duffy first adapted Butler’s classic novel “Kindred” in 2017, which won the Eisner Award, the comic industry’s top prize, for best adaptation.

Jennings described Butler as an influential author for him when he began reading science fiction at a young age. 

“It’s already a great honor to help to garner more interest in the legacy of the amazing Octavia E. Butler but to win this incredibly prestigious award is just surreal and I am still processing the excitement,” he said.