The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History recently announced director, writer, producer and film distributor Ava DuVernay as this year’s recipient of the Great Americans Medal.
Created in 2016, the Great American Medal Award Program honors trailblazers who have made an impact in their respective fields while also paving the way through their philanthropic efforts. With this year’s 10th iteration of the award, DuVernay will join the likes of Paul Simon, Anthony Fauci, M.D., Billie Jean King, Yo-Yo Ma and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who have all been awarded the Great American Medal.
To celebrate her new win, DuVernay will feature in an award ceremony alongside Regent Emeritus David M. Rubenstein, with whom she will be in conversation. On May 8, she will officially be presented with the award by the Elizabeth MacMillan Director, Anthea M. Hartig and Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III.
“The museum will present DuVernay with a specially minted 14-karat gold medal struck in Wisconsin. It features an American eagle with sun rays on the obverse or ‘head’s side’ with the words ‘Great Americans’ and ‘National Museum of American History’ engraved around the edge,” said the museum in a press release. “The reverse side honors one of the museum’s most important treasures, the Star-Spangled Banner, and states the Smithsonian’s mission: ‘For the increase and diffusion of knowledge.’”
The latest announcement comes as DuVernay continues to sweep up top honors awards. Earlier this year, the director took home the Special Achievement Award at the Online Film Critics Society Awards for her “brilliant work and for supporting a new generation of female filmmakers.”
Overall, throughout her film career, DuVernay has received 108 nominations for her work. Along with an Academy Award nomination, she has won two BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards alongside the International Emmy Awards’ Founders Award and has been nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award.
Her work on Beyonce’s and Jay-Z’s “Family Fued” music video also won her the “Video Director of the Year” award at the BET Awards while her films have won her multiple NAACP awards, most recently sweeping up the “Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture” award for her “Origin” documentary.
DuVernay’s credits first stem back to 2006 when she worked on the short film “Saturday Night Life.” Since then, her credits have expanded to include multiple films and documentaries, such as “Selma,” “A Wrinkle in Time,” “Origin” and “13th,” as well as credits on hit TV shows like “Scandal,” “Queen Sugar” and “When They See Us.”
