Coretta Scott King Award

Coretta Scott King Award
Awarded for	The most distinguished portrayal of African American experience in literature for children or teens
Country	United States
Presented by	Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, a round table of the American Library Association (ALA)
First awarded	1970
Website	www.ala.org/csk

The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African American experience. Awards are given both to authors and to illustrators for universal human values.

The first author award was given in 1970. In 1974, the award was expanded to honor illustrators as well as authors. Starting in 1978, runner-up Author Honor Books have been recognized. Recognition of runner-up Illustrator Honor Books began in 1981. In addition, the Coretta Scott King Awards committee has given the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, starting in 2010, and beginning in 1996 an occasional John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

Like the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Awards have the potential to be used in classroom teaching and projects.

History

Scott King in 1993

The idea for the Coretta Scott King Award came from Glyndon Flynt Greer, a school librarian in Englewood, New Jersey. At a meeting of the American Library Association in Atlantic City in 1969, Greer, librarian Mabel McKissick, and publisher John M. Carroll, lamented the lack of recognition for minority writers. No person of color had won either the Newbery or Caldecott Medals at that time. Before the conference ended, a group of African American librarians had formed to promote the creation of a new award. Among them were Augusta Braxton Baker, Charlemae Hill Rollins, and Virginia Lacy Jones. The award's name was intentionally chosen to honor recently assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. The name also commemorates the life of King Jr. and honors the dedication Coretta Scott King had to making the world a place that welcomes all people. The first Coretta Scott King Award was presented to Lillie Patterson, a librarian in Baltimore, for her elementary level biography Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace.

Early sponsors of the award included the New Jersey Library Association, and the library councils of the Englewood Middle School and Dwight Morrow High School.With support from Roger McDonough, the third annual Coretta Scott King Award was presented during the American Library Association's 1972 Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The award was briefly sponsored by the School of Library and Information Studies at Atlanta University from 1974-1976. In 1976, a separate awards committee and an advisory board of mostly local librarians were formed, co-chaired by Ella Gaines Yates.

In 1974, the award was expanded to honor illustrators as well as authors. The first illustrator to receive the award was George Ford, for his work in illustrating Ray Charles by Sharon Bell Mathis. Starting in 1978, the runner-ups for the author prize were listed as Honor Books, and beginning in 1981 the illustrator runner-ups were also listed as Honor Books.

In 1979, the awards committee and the advisory board merged, forming the Coretta Scott King Award Task Force. With support from E. J. Josey, the new committee became part of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the American Library Association. Greer served as its first chair until her death on 24 August 1980. Harriet Brown then became acting chair. Brown was succeeded by Effie Lee Morris in 1981. Under Morris' leadership, the Coretta Scott King Awards were officially recognized by the executive board of the ALA. Morris wrote formal selection criteria for the awards to meet ALA's standards, and the Coretta Scott King Awards were accepted as an ALA unit award in 1982, the twelfth year that they had been given.

Winning books receive a medal; honor books receive a certificate. Winning and honor books are identified by the presence on their covers of the Coretta Scott King Award Seal. The original seal was designed by artist Lev Mills in 1974, with a bronze seal on winning books and a pewter seal on honor books. In a later revision of the seal, the colors changed to bronze and black for winners, and pewter and black for honors.

The award eventually changed its ALA affiliation from the SRRT to the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), which had previously been a task force of the SRRT and was a closer match for its activities. In 2022 The Coretta Scott King Book Award was designated an official ALA Round Table: the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table.

Dr. Henrietta M. Smith edited four volumes, published by the American Library Association, that provide a history of the award. The Coretta Scott King Awards: 50th Anniversary was published in 2019 on the Award's 50th anniversary.

From 1996 on, the Coretta Scott King Awards program includes the John Steptoe Award for New Talent, optionally awarded to an author, an illustrator, or both.

Recipients

Sharon Draper won the Steptoe Award before going on to win two Coretta Scott King Awards

Ashley Bryan has won the award as both an author and illustrator and has been recognized 12 total times

Christopher Paul Curtis became the first author to win the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award in the same year for Bud, Not Buddy.

Jerry Pinkney's five wins are the most for any illustrator

Table key

Row color	Meaning
	Indicates a Coretta Scott King author winner
	Indicates a Coretta Scott King illustrator winner
	Indicates a John Steptoe Award for New Talent winner
	Indicates a special recognition

Coretta Scott King Book Awards winners and runners-up

Year	Work	Recipient	Title	Citation
1970	Author	Lillie Patterson	Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace	Winner
1971	Author	Charlemae Rollins	Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes	Winner
		Maya Angelou	I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings	Honor
		Shirley Chisholm	Unbought and Unbossed
		Mari Evans	I Am a Black Woman
		Lorenz Graham	Every Man Heart Lay Down
		June Jordan and Terri Bush	The Voice of the Children
		Gladys Groom and Barney Grossman	Black Means
		Margaret W. Peters	Ebony Book of Black Achievement
		Janice May Udry	Mary Jo's Grandmother
1972	Author	Elton Fax	17 Black Artists	Winner
1973	Author	Alfred Duckett	I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson	Winner
1974	Author	Sharon Bell Mathis	Ray Charles	Winner
		Alice Childress	A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich	Honor
		Lucille Clifton	Don't You Remember?
		Louise Crane	Ms. Africa: Profiles of Modern African Women
		Kristin Hunter	Guest in the Promise Land
		John Nagenda	Mukasa
	Illustrator	George Ford	Ray Charles	Winner
1975	Author	Dorothy Robinson	The Legend of Africania	Winner
1976	Author	Pearl Bailey	Duey's Tale	Winner
		Shirley Graham	Julius K. Nyerere: Teacher of Africa	Honor
		Eloise Greenfield	Paul Robeson
		Walter Dean Myers	Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff
		Mildred Taylor	Song of the Trees
1977	Author	James Haskins	The Story of Stevie Wonder	Winner
		Lucille Clifton	Everett Anderson's Friend	Honor
		Mildred Taylor	Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
		Clarence N. Blake and Donald F. Martin	Quiz Book on Black America
1978	Author	Eloise Greenfield	Africa Dream	Winner
		William J. Faulkner	The Days When the Animals Talked: Black Folk Tales and How They Came to Be	Honor
		Frankcina Glass	Marvin and Tige
		Eloise Greenfield	Mary McCleod Bethune
		James Haskins	Barbara Jordan
		Lillie Patterson	Coretta Scott King
		Ruth Ann Stewart	Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington
	Illustrator	Carole Byard	Africa Dream	Winner
1979	Author	Ossie Davis	Escape to Freedom	Winner
		Lillie Patterson	Benjamin Banneker	Honor
		Jeanne W. Peterson	I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf
		Virginia Hamilton	Justice and Her Brothers
		Carol Fenner	Skates of Uncle Richard
	Illustrator	Tom Feelings	Something on My Mind	Winner
1980	Author	Walter Dean Myers	The Young Landlords	Winner
		Berry Gordy	Movin' Up	Honor
		Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little	Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir
		James Haskins	Andrew Young: Young Man with a Mission
		James Haskins	James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin' Man
		Ellease Southerland	Let the Lion Eat Straw
	Illustrator	Carole Byard	Cornrows	Winner
1981	Author	Sidney Poitier	This Life	Winner
		Alexis De Veaux	Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday	Honor
	Illustrator	Ashley Bryan	Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum	Winner
		Carole Byard	Grandmama's Joy	Honor
		Jerry Pinkney	Count on Your Fingers African Style
1982	Author	Mildred Taylor	Let the Circle Be Unbroken	Winner
		Alice Childress	Rainbow Jordan	Honor
		Kristin Hunter	Lou In the Limelight
		Mary E. Mebane	Mary: An Autobiography
	Illustrator	John Steptoe	Mother Crocodile: An Uncle Amadou Tale from Senegal	Winner
		Tom Feelings	Daydreamers	Honor
1983	Author	Virginia Hamilton	Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush	Winner
		Julius Lester	This Strange New Feeling	Honor
	Illustrator	Peter Magubane	Black Child	Winner
		John Steptoe	All the Colors of the Race	Honor
		Ashley Bryan	I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals
		Pat Cummings	Just Us Women
1984	Author	Lucille Clifton	Everett Anderson's Goodbye	Winner
		Virginia Hamilton	The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl	Honor
		James Haskins	Lena Horne
		Joyce Carol Thomas	Bright Shadow
		Mildred Pitts Walter	Because We Are
		Coretta Scott King (editor)	The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr	Special
	Illustrator	Pat Cummings	My Mama Needs Me	Winner
1985	Author	Walter Dean Myers	Motown and Didi	Winner
		Candy Dawson Boyd	Circle of Gold	Honor
		Virginia Hamilton	A Little Love
1986	Author	Virginia Hamilton	The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales	Winner
		Virginia Hamilton	Junius Over Far	Honor
		Mildred Pitts Walter	Trouble's Child	Honor
	Illustrator	Jerry Pinkney	The Patchwork Quilt	Winner
		Leo and Diane Dillon	The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales	Honor
1987	Author	Mildred Pitts Walter	Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World	Winner
		Ashley Bryan	Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales	Honor
		Joyce Hansen	Which Way Freedom	Honor
	Illustrator	Jerry Pinkney	Half a Moon and One Whole Star	Winner
		Ashley Bryan	Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales	Honor
		Pat Cummings	C.L.O.U.D.S.
1988	Author	Mildred Taylor	The Friendship	Winner
		Alexis De Veaux	An Enchanted Hair Tale	Honor
		Julius Lester	The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit	Honor
	Illustrator	John Steptoe	Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale	Winner
		Ashley Bryan	What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals	Honor
		Joe Sam	The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua
1989	Author	Walter Dean Myers	Fallen Angels	Winner
		James Berry	A Thief in the Village and Other Stories	Honor
		Virginia Hamilton	Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave
	Illustrator	Jerry Pinkney	Mirandy and Brother Wind	Winner
		Amos Ferguson	Under the Sunday Tree	Honor
		Pat Cummings	Storm in the Night
1990	Author	Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack	A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter	Winner
		Eloise Greenfield	Nathaniel Talking	Honor
		Virginia Hamilton	The Bells of Christmas
		Lillie Patterson	Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Freedom Movement
	Illustrator	Jan Spivey Gilchrist	Nathaniel Talking	Winner
		Jerry Pinkney	The Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South	Honor
1991	Author	Mildred Taylor	The Road to Memphis	Winner
		James Haskins	Black Dance in America	Honor
		Angela Johnson	When I Am Old with You
	Illustrator	Leo and Diane Dillon	Aida	Winner
1992	Author	Walter Dean Myers	Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom	Winner
		Eloise Greenfield	Night on Neighborhood Street	Honor
	Illustrator	Faith Ringgold	Tar Beach	Winner
		Ashley Bryan	All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals	Honor
		Jan Spivey Gilchrist	Night on Neighborhood Street
1993	Author	Patricia C. McKissack	The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural	Winner
		Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack	Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?	Honor
		Walter Dean Myers	Somewhere in the Darkness
		Mildred Pitts Walter	Mississippi Challenge
	Illustrator	Kathleen Atkins Wilson	The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth	Winner
		Wil Clay	Little Eight John	Honor
		Brian Pinkney	Sukey and the Mermaid
		Carole Byard	Working Cotton
1994	Author	Angela Johnson	Toning the Sweep	Winner
		Joyce Carol Thomas	Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea	Honor
		Walter Dean Myers	Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
	Illustrator	Tom Feelings	Soul Looks Back in Wonder	Winner
		Floyd Cooper	Brown Honey in Broom Wheat Tea	Honor
		James Ransome	Uncle Jed's Barbershop
1995	Author	Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack	Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters	Winner
		Joyce Hansen	The Captive	Honor
		Jacqueline Woodson	I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This
		Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack, Jr.	Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues
	Illustrator	James Ransome	The Creation	Winner
		Teresa Shaffer	The Singing Man	Honor
		Floyd Cooper	Meet Danitra Brown
	Steptoe author	Sharon Draper	Tears of a Tiger	Winner
1996	Author	Virginia Hamilton	Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales	Winner
		Christopher Paul Curtis	The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963	Honor
		Rita Williams-Garcia	Like Sisters on the Homefront
		Jacqueline Woodson	From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun
	Illustrator	Tom Feelings	The Middle Passage	Winner
		Leo and Diane Dillon	Her Stories	Honor
		Brian Pinkney	The Faithful Friend
1997	Author	Walter Dean Myers	Slam	Winner
		Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack	Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts	Honor
	Illustrator	Jerry Pinkney	Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman	Winner
		R. Gregory Christie	The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children	Honor
		Reynold Ruffins	Running the Road to ABC
		Synthia Saint James	Neeny Coming, Neeny Going
	Steptoe author	Martha Southgate	Another Way to Dance	Winner
1998	Author	Sharon Draper	Forged By Fire	Winner
		James Haskins	Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement	Honor
		Joyce Hansen	I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl
	Illustrator	Javaka Steptoe	In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers	Winner
		Ashley Bryan	Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry	Honor
		Christopher Myers	Harlem
		Baba Wagué Diakité	The Hunterman and the Crocodile
1999	Author	Angela Johnson	Heaven	Winner
		Nikki Grimes	Jazmin's Notebook	Honor
		Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan	Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground
		Angela Johnson	The Other Side: Shorter Poems
	Illustrator	Michele Wood	I See the Rhythm	Winner
		Floyd Cooper	I Have Heard of a Land	Honor
		E. B. Lewis	The Bat Boy and His Violin
		Brian Pinkney	Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra
	Steptoe author	Sharon Flake	The Skin I'm In	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Eric Velasquez	The Piano Man	Winner
2000	Author	Christopher Paul Curtis	Bud, Not Buddy	Winner
		Karen English	Francie	Honor
		Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack	Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers
		Walter Dean Myers	Monster
	Illustrator	Brian Pinkney	In the Time of the Drums	Winner
		E. B. Lewis	My Rows and Piles of Coins	Honor
		Christopher Myers	Black Cat
2001	Author	Jacqueline Woodson	Miracle's Boys	Winner
		Andrea Davis Pinkney	Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters	Honor
	Illustrator	Bryan Collier	Uptown	Winner
		Bryan Collier	Freedom River	Honor
		R. Gregory Christie	Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth
		E. B. Lewis	Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys
2002	Author	Mildred Taylor	The Land	Winner
		Sharon G. Flake	Money-Hungry	Honor
		Marilyn Nelson	Carver: A Life in Poems
	Illustrator	Jerry Pinkney	Goin' Someplace Special	Winner
		Bryan Collier	Martin's Big Words	Honor
	Steptoe illustrator	Jerome Lagarrigue	Freedom Summer	Winner
2003	Author	Nikki Grimes	Bronx Masquerade	Winner
		Brenda Woods	The Red Rose Box	Honor
		Nikki Grimes	Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
	Illustrator	E. B. Lewis	Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman	Winner
		Bryan Collier	Visiting Langston	Honor
	Steptoe author	Janet McDonald	Chill Wind	Winner
	Steptoe author / illustrator	Randy DuBurke	The Moon Ring	Winner
2004	Author	Angela Johnson	The First Part Last	Winner
		Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack	Days Of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States	Honor
		Sharon Draper	The Battle of Jericho
	Illustrator	Ashley Bryan	Beautiful Blackbird	Winner
		Colin Bootman	Almost to Freedom	Honor
		Kadir Nelson	Thunder Rose
		Leo and Diane Dillon	Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles
	Steptoe author	Hope Anita Smith	The Way a Door Closes (illustrated by Shane W. Evans)	Winner
2005	Author	Toni Morrison	Remember: The Journey to School Integration	Winner
		Shelia P. Moses	The Legend of Buddy Bush	Honor
		Sharon G. Flake	Who Am I without Him?: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in Their Lives
		Marilyn Nelson	Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem
	Illustrator	Kadir Nelson	Ellington Was Not a Street	Winner
		Jerry Pinkney	God Bless the Child	Honor
		Leo and Diane Dillon	The People Could Fly: The Picture Book
	Steptoe author	Barbara Hathaway	Missy Violet and Me	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Frank Morrison	Jazzy Miz Mozetta	Winner
2006	Author	Julius Lester	Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue	Winner
		Tonya Bolden	Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl	Honor
		Nikki Grimes	Dark Sons
		Marilyn Nelson	A Wreath for Emmett Till
	Illustrator	Bryan Collier	Rosa	Winner
		R. Gregory Christie	Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan	Honor
	Steptoe author	Jaime Adoff	Jimi & Me	Winner
2007	Author	Sharon Draper	Copper Sun	Winner
		Nikki Grimes	The Road to Paris	Honor
	Illustrator	Kadir Nelson	Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom	Winner
		Christopher Myers	Jazz	Honor
		Benny Andrews	Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes
	Steptoe author	Traci L. Jones	Standing Against the Wind	Winner
2008	Author	Christopher Paul Curtis	Elijah of Buxton	Winner
		Sharon Draper	November Blues	Honor
		Charles R. Smith Jr.	Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali
	Illustrator	Ashley Bryan	Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals	Winner
		Nancy Devard	The Secret Olivia Told Me	Honor
		Leo and Diane Dillon	Jazz on a Saturday Night
	Steptoe author	Sundee T. Frazier	Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It	Winner
2009	Author	Kadir Nelson	We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball	Winner
		Hope Anita Smith	Keeping the Night Watch	Honor
		Joyce Carol Thomas	The Blacker the Berry
		Carole Boston Weatherford	Becoming Billie Holiday
	Illustrator	Floyd Cooper	The Blacker the Berry	Winner
		Kadir Nelson	We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball	Honor
		Jerry Pinkney	The Moon Over Star
		Sean Qualls	Before John Was a Jazz Giant
	Steptoe illustrator	Shadra Strickland	Bird	Winner
2010	Author	Vaunda Micheaux Nelson	Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal	Winner
		Tanita S. Davis	Mare's War	Honor
	Illustrator	Charles R. Smith Jr.	My People	Winner
		E. B. Lewis	The Negro Speaks of Rivers	Honor
	Steptoe author	Kekla Magoon	The Rock and the River	Winner
2011	Author	Rita Williams-Garcia	One Crazy Summer	Winner
		Walter Dean Myers	Lockdown	Honor
		Jewell Parker Rhodes	Ninth Ward
		G. Neri	Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
	Illustrator	Bryan Collier	Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave	Winner
		Javaka Steptoe	Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix	Honor
	Steptoe author	Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon	Zora and Me	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Sonia Lynn Sadler	Seeds of Change	Winner
2012	Author	Kadir Nelson	Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans	Winner
		Eloise Greenfield	The Great Migration: Journey to the North	Honor
		Patricia C. McKissack	Never Forgotten
	Illustrator	Shane W. Evans	Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom	Winner
		Kadir Nelson	Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans	Honor
2013	Author	Andrea Davis Pinkney	Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America	Winner
		Jacqueline Woodson	Each Kindness	Honor
		Vaunda Micheaux Nelson	No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Micheaux, Harlem Bookseller
	Illustrator	Bryan Collier	I, Too, Am America	Winner
		Daniel Minter	Ellen's Broom	Honor
		Christopher Myers	H.O.R.S.E.
		Kadir Nelson	I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Jr.
2014	Author	Rita Williams-Garcia	P.S. Be Eleven	Winner
		John Lewis and Andrew Aydin	March: Book One	Honor
		Walter Dean Myers	Darius & Twig
		Nikki Grimes	Words with Wings
	Illustrator	Bryan Collier	Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me	Winner
		Kadir Nelson	Nelson Mandela	Honor
	Steptoe illustrator	Theodore Taylor III	When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop	Winner
2015	Author	Jacqueline Woodson	Brown Girl Dreaming	Winner
		Kwame Alexander	The Crossover	Honor
		Marilyn Nelson	How I Discovered Poetry
		Kekla Magoon	How It Went Down
	Illustrator	Christopher Myers	Firebird	Winner
		Christian Robinson	Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker	Honor
		Frank Morrison	Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
	Steptoe author	Jason Reynolds	When I Was the Greatest	Winner
2016	Author	Rita Williams-Garcia	Gone Crazy in Alabama	Winner
		Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely	All American Boys	Honor
		Jason Reynolds	The Boy in the Black Suit
		Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon	X: A Novel
	Illustrator	Bryan Collier	Trombone Shorty	Winner
		R. Gregory Christie	The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore	Honor
		Christian Robinson	Last Stop on Market Street
	Steptoe author	Ronald L. Smith	Hoodoo	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Ekua Holmes	Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement	Winner
2017	Author	John Lewis and Andrew Aydin	March: Book Three	Winner
		Jason Reynolds	As Brave as You	Honor
		Ashley Bryan	Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
	Illustrator	Javaka Steptoe	Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat	Winner
		R. Gregory Christie	Freedom in Congo Square	Honor
		Ashley Bryan	Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
		Jerry Pinkney	In Plain Sight
	Steptoe author	Nicola Yoon	The Sun Is Also a Star	Winner
2018	Author	Renée Watson	Piecing Me Together	Winner
		Derrick Barnes	Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut	Honor
		Jason Reynolds	Long Way Down
		Angie Thomas	The Hate U Give
	Illustrator	Ekua Holmes	Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets	Winner
		Gordon C. James	Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut	Honor
		James Ransome	Before She Was Harriet: The Story of Harriet Tubman
	Steptoe author	David Barclay Moore	The Stars Beneath Our Feet	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Charly Palmer	Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song	Winner
2019	Author	Claire Hartfield	A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919	Winner
		Lesa Cline-Ransome	Finding Langston	Honor
		Varian Johnson	The Parker Inheritance
		Kekla Magoon	The Season of Styx Malone
	Illustrator	Ekua Holmes	The Stuff of Stars	Winner
		Laura Freeman	Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race	Honor
		Frank Morrison	Let the Children March
		R. Gregory Christie	Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop
	Steptoe author	Tiffany D. Jackson	Monday's Not Coming	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Oge Mora	Thank You, Omu!	Winner
2020	Author	Jerry Craft	New Kid	Winner
		Junauda Petrus	The Stars and the Blackness Between Them	Honor
		Kwame Mbalia	Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
		Jason Reynolds	Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks
	Illustrator	Kadir Nelson	The Undefeated	Winner
		James Ransome	The Bell Rang	Honor
		Ashley Bryan	Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace
		Vashti Harrison	Sulwe
	Steptoe author	Alicia D. Williams	Genesis Begins Again	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	April Harrison	What is Given from the Heart	Winner
2021	Author	Jacqueline Woodson	Before the Ever After	Winner
		Mildred Taylor	All the Days Past, All the Days to Come	Honor
		Kacen Callender	King and the Dragonflies
		Evette Dionne	Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box
	Illustrator	Frank Morrison	R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul	Winner
		Kaylani Juanita	Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration	Honor
		Cozbi A. Cabrera	Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
		Cozbi A. Cabrera	Me & Mama
	Steptoe author	Tracy Deonn	Legendborn	Winner
2022	Author	Carole Boston Weatherford	Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre	Winner
		Safia Elhillo	Home Is Not a Country	Honor
		Kekla Magoon	Revolution in Our Time
		Ibi Zoboi	The People Remember
	Illustrator	Floyd Cooper	Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre	Winner
		Christian Robinson	Nina: A Story of Nina Simone	Honor
		Raissa Figueroa	We Wait for the Sun
		C.G. Esperanza	Soul Food Sunday
	Steptoe author	Amber McBride	Me (Moth)	Winner
2023	Author	Amina Luqman-Dawson	Freewater	Winner
		Ibi Zoboi	Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler	Honor
		Alicia D. Williams	The Talk
		Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes	Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
	Illustrator	Frank Morrison	Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual	Winner
		April Harrison	Me and the Boss: A Story of Mending and Love	Honor
		Johnnie Christmas	Swim Team
		Dawud Anyabwile	Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
	Steptoe author	Jas Hammonds	We Deserve Monuments	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Janelle Washington	Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement	Winner
2024	Author	Ibi Zoboi	Nigeria Jones	Winner
		Vashti Harrison	Big	Honor
		Carole Boston Weatherford	How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee	Honor
		Carole Boston Weatherford	Kin: Rooted in Hope	Honor
	Illustrator	Dare Coulter	An American Story	Winner
		Vashti Harrison	Big	Honor
		Shannon Wright	Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes	Honor
		Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey	There Was a Party for Langston	Honor
	Steptoe author	Jade Adia	There Goes the Neighborhood	Winner
	Steptoe illustrator	Briana Mukodiri Uchendu	We Could Fly	Winner

Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement

Walter Dean Myers has the most Coretta Scott King Awards wins as an author with five, and was the inaugural recipient of the Hamilton Award for Lifetime achievement

From 2010 the Coretta Scott King Awards include the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, or Virginia Hamilton Award. It is presented to creators and practitioners alternately: in even years, to an African American writer or illustrator of books for children or young adults; in odd years, to a practitioner for "active engagement with youth using award-winning African American literature for children and/or young adults, via implementation of reading and reading related activities/programs."

• 2010: Walter Dean Myers, author
• 2011: Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, professor emerita, University of South Florida, School of Information.
• 2012: Ashley Bryan, storyteller, artist, author, poet, and musician
• 2013: Demetria Tucker, family and youth services librarian for the Pearl Bailey Library, a branch of the Newport News (Va.) Public Library System
• 2014: Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, children's authors
• 2015: Deborah D. Taylor, young adult librarian
• 2016: Jerry Pinkney, illustrator
• 2017: Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, professor emerita of education at Ohio State University
• 2018: Eloise Greenfield, author
• 2019: Dr. Pauletta Brown Bracy, professor of library science and director of the Office of University Accreditation at North Carolina Central University
• 2020: Mildred Taylor, author
• 2021: Dorothy L. Guthrie, retired librarian, district administrator, author and school board member
• 2022: Nikki Grimes, author
• 2023: Dr. Claudette McLinn, retired librarian and bookseller
• 2024: Christopher Paul Curtis, author

See also

• Timeline of African-American children's literature