# Coretta Scott King Award

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

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.$^{:13}$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 to 1976. In 1976, a separate awards committee and an advisory board of mostly local librarians were formed, co-chaired by Ella Gaines Yates.$^{:14–15}$
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.$^{:63,67}$
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.$^{:14–17}$ 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.$^{:14–17}$
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

Table key :
* 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 |
| 1971 | Author | Maya Angelou | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | Shirley Chisholm | Unbought and Unbossed | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | Mari Evans | I Am a Black Woman | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | Lorenz Graham | Every Man Heart Lay Down | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | June Jordan and Terri Bush | The Voice of the Children | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | Gladys Groom and Barney Grossman | Black Means | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | Margaret W. Peters | Ebony Book of Black Achievement | Honor |
| 1971 | Author | Janice May Udry | Mary Jo's Grandmother | Honor |
| 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 |
| 1974 | Author | Alice Childress | A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich | Honor |
| 1974 | Author | Lucille Clifton | Don't You Remember? | Honor |
| 1974 | Author | Louise Crane | Ms. Africa: Profiles of Modern African Women | Honor |
| 1974 | Author | Kristin Hunter | Guest in the Promise Land | Honor |
| 1974 | Author | John Nagenda | Mukasa | Honor |
| 1974 | Illustrator | George Ford | Ray Charles | Winner |
| 1975 | Author | Dorothy Robinson | The Legend of Africania | Winner |
| 1976 | Author | Pearl Bailey | Duey's Tale | Winner |
| 1976 | Author | Shirley Graham | Julius K. Nyerere: Teacher of Africa | Honor |
| 1976 | Author | Eloise Greenfield | Paul Robeson | Honor |
| 1976 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff | Honor |
| 1976 | Author | Mildred Taylor | Song of the Trees | Honor |
| 1977 | Author | James Haskins | The Story of Stevie Wonder | Winner |
| 1977 | Author | Lucille Clifton | Everett Anderson's Friend | Honor |
| 1977 | Author | Mildred Taylor | Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry | Honor |
| 1977 | Author | Clarence N. Blake and Donald F. Martin | Quiz Book on Black America | Honor |
| 1978 | Author | Eloise Greenfield | Africa Dream | Winner |
| 1978 | Author | William J. Faulkner | The Days When the Animals Talked: Black Folk Tales and How They Came to Be | Honor |
| 1978 | Author | Frankcina Glass | Marvin and Tige | Honor |
| 1978 | Author | Eloise Greenfield | Mary McCleod Bethune | Honor |
| 1978 | Author | James Haskins | Barbara Jordan | Honor |
| 1978 | Author | Lillie Patterson | Coretta Scott King | Honor |
| 1978 | Author | Ruth Ann Stewart | Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington | Honor |
| 1978 | Illustrator | Carole Byard | Africa Dream | Winner |
| 1979 | Author | Ossie Davis | Escape to Freedom | Winner |
| 1979 | Author | Lillie Patterson | Benjamin Banneker | Honor |
| 1979 | Author | Jeanne W. Peterson | I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf | Honor |
| 1979 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | Justice and Her Brothers | Honor |
| 1979 | Author | Carol Fenner | Skates of Uncle Richard | Honor |
| 1979 | Illustrator | Tom Feelings | Something on My Mind | Winner |
| 1980 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | The Young Landlords | Winner |
| 1980 | Author | Berry Gordy | Movin' Up | Honor |
| 1980 | Author | Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little | Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir | Honor |
| 1980 | Author | James Haskins | Andrew Young: Young Man with a Mission | Honor |
| 1980 | Author | James Haskins | James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin' Man | Honor |
| 1980 | Author | Ellease Southerland | Let the Lion Eat Straw | Honor |
| 1980 | Illustrator | Carole Byard | Cornrows | Winner |
| 1981 | Author | Sidney Poitier | This Life | Winner |
| 1981 | Author | Alexis De Veaux | Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday | Honor |
| 1981 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum | Winner |
| 1981 | Illustrator | Carole Byard | Grandmama's Joy | Honor |
| 1981 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | Count on Your Fingers African Style | Honor |
| 1982 | Author | Mildred Taylor | Let the Circle Be Unbroken | Winner |
| 1982 | Author | Alice Childress | Rainbow Jordan | Honor |
| 1982 | Author | Kristin Hunter | Lou In the Limelight | Honor |
| 1982 | Author | Mary E. Mebane | Mary: An Autobiography | Honor |
| 1982 | Illustrator | John Steptoe | Mother Crocodile: An Uncle Amadou Tale from Senegal | Winner |
| 1982 | Illustrator | Tom Feelings | Daydreamers | Honor |
| 1983 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush | Winner |
| 1983 | Author | Julius Lester | This Strange New Feeling | Honor |
| 1983 | Illustrator | Peter Magubane | Black Child | Winner |
| 1983 | Illustrator | John Steptoe | All the Colors of the Race | Honor |
| 1983 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals | Honor |
| 1983 | Illustrator | Pat Cummings | Just Us Women | Honor |
| 1984 | Author | Lucille Clifton | Everett Anderson's Goodbye | Winner |
| 1984 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl | Honor |
| 1984 | Author | James Haskins | Lena Horne | Honor |
| 1984 | Author | Joyce Carol Thomas | Bright Shadow | Honor |
| 1984 | Author | Mildred Pitts Walter | Because We Are | Honor |
| 1984 | Author | Coretta Scott King (editor) | The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr | Special |
| 1984 | Illustrator | Pat Cummings | My Mama Needs Me | Winner |
| 1985 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Motown and Didi | Winner |
| 1985 | Author | Candy Dawson Boyd | Circle of Gold | Honor |
| 1985 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | A Little Love | Honor |
| 1986 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales | Winner |
| 1986 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | Junius Over Far | Honor |
| 1986 | Author | Mildred Pitts Walter | Trouble's Child | Honor |
| 1986 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | The Patchwork Quilt | Winner |
| 1986 | Illustrator | 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 |
| 1987 | Author | Ashley Bryan | Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales | Honor |
| 1987 | Author | Joyce Hansen | Which Way Freedom | Honor |
| 1987 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | Half a Moon and One Whole Star | Winner |
| 1987 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales | Honor |
| 1987 | Illustrator | Pat Cummings | C.L.O.U.D.S. | Honor |
| 1988 | Author | Mildred Taylor | The Friendship | Winner |
| 1988 | Author | Alexis De Veaux | An Enchanted Hair Tale | Honor |
| 1988 | Author | Julius Lester | The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit | Honor |
| 1988 | Illustrator | John Steptoe | Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale | Winner |
| 1988 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals | Honor |
| 1988 | Illustrator | Joe Sam | The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua | Honor |
| 1989 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Fallen Angels | Winner |
| 1989 | Author | James Berry | A Thief in the Village and Other Stories | Honor |
| 1989 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave | Honor |
| 1989 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | Mirandy and Brother Wind | Winner |
| 1989 | Illustrator | Amos Ferguson | Under the Sunday Tree | Honor |
| 1989 | Illustrator | Pat Cummings | Storm in the Night | Honor |
| 1990 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter | Winner |
| 1990 | Author | Eloise Greenfield | Nathaniel Talking | Honor |
| 1990 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | The Bells of Christmas | Honor |
| 1990 | Author | Lillie Patterson | Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Freedom Movement | Honor |
| 1990 | Illustrator | Jan Spivey Gilchrist | Nathaniel Talking | Winner |
| 1990 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | The Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South | Honor |
| 1991 | Author | Mildred Taylor | The Road to Memphis | Winner |
| 1991 | Author | James Haskins | Black Dance in America | Honor |
| 1991 | Author | Angela Johnson | When I Am Old with You | Honor |
| 1991 | Illustrator | Leo and Diane Dillon | Aida | Winner |
| 1992 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom | Winner |
| 1992 | Author | Eloise Greenfield | Night on Neighborhood Street | Honor |
| 1992 | Illustrator | Faith Ringgold | Tar Beach | Winner |
| 1992 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals | Honor |
| 1992 | Illustrator | Jan Spivey Gilchrist | Night on Neighborhood Street | Honor |
| 1993 | Author | Patricia C. McKissack | The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural | Winner |
| 1993 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? | Honor |
| 1993 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Somewhere in the Darkness | Honor |
| 1993 | Author | Mildred Pitts Walter | Mississippi Challenge | Honor |
| 1993 | Illustrator | Kathleen Atkins Wilson | The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth | Winner |
| 1993 | Illustrator | Wil Clay | Little Eight John | Honor |
| 1993 | Illustrator | Brian Pinkney | Sukey and the Mermaid | Honor |
| 1993 | Illustrator | Carole Byard | Working Cotton | Honor |
| 1994 | Author | Angela Johnson | Toning the Sweep | Winner |
| 1994 | Author | Joyce Carol Thomas | Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea | Honor |
| 1994 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary | Honor |
| 1994 | Illustrator | Tom Feelings | Soul Looks Back in Wonder | Winner |
| 1994 | Illustrator | Floyd Cooper | Brown Honey in Broom Wheat Tea | Honor |
| 1994 | Illustrator | James Ransome | Uncle Jed's Barbershop | Honor |
| 1995 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters | Winner |
| 1995 | Author | Joyce Hansen | The Captive | Honor |
| 1995 | Author | Jacqueline Woodson | I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This | Honor |
| 1995 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack, Jr. | Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues | Honor |
| 1995 | Illustrator | James Ransome | The Creation | Winner |
| 1995 | Illustrator | Teresa Shaffer | The Singing Man | Honor |
| 1995 | Illustrator | Floyd Cooper | Meet Danitra Brown | Honor |
| 1995 | Steptoe author | Sharon Draper | Tears of a Tiger | Winner |
| 1996 | Author | Virginia Hamilton | Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales | Winner |
| 1996 | Author | Christopher Paul Curtis | The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 | Honor |
| 1996 | Author | Rita Williams-Garcia | Like Sisters on the Homefront | Honor |
| 1996 | Author | Jacqueline Woodson | From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun | Honor |
| 1996 | Illustrator | Tom Feelings | The Middle Passage | Winner |
| 1996 | Illustrator | Leo and Diane Dillon | Her Stories | Honor |
| 1996 | Illustrator | Brian Pinkney | The Faithful Friend | Honor |
| 1997 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Slam | Winner |
| 1997 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts | Honor |
| 1997 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman | Winner |
| 1997 | Illustrator | R. Gregory Christie | The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children | Honor |
| 1997 | Illustrator | Reynold Ruffins | Running the Road to ABC | Honor |
| 1997 | Illustrator | Synthia Saint James | Neeny Coming, Neeny Going | Honor |
| 1997 | Steptoe author | Martha Southgate | Another Way to Dance | Winner |
| 1998 | Author | Sharon Draper | Forged By Fire | Winner |
| 1998 | Author | James Haskins | Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement | Honor |
| 1998 | Author | Joyce Hansen | I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl | Honor |
| 1998 | Illustrator | Javaka Steptoe | In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers | Winner |
| 1998 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry | Honor |
| 1998 | Illustrator | Christopher Myers | Harlem | Honor |
| 1998 | Illustrator | Baba Wagué Diakité | The Hunterman and the Crocodile | Honor |
| 1999 | Author | Angela Johnson | Heaven | Winner |
| 1999 | Author | Nikki Grimes | Jazmin's Notebook | Honor |
| 1999 | Author | Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan | Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground | Honor |
| 1999 | Author | Angela Johnson | The Other Side: Shorter Poems | Honor |
| 1999 | Illustrator | Michele Wood | I See the Rhythm | Winner |
| 1999 | Illustrator | Floyd Cooper | I Have Heard of a Land | Honor |
| 1999 | Illustrator | E. B. Lewis | The Bat Boy and His Violin | Honor |
| 1999 | Illustrator | Brian Pinkney | Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra | Honor |
| 1999 | Steptoe author | Sharon Flake | The Skin I'm In | Winner |
| 1999 | Steptoe illustrator | Eric Velasquez | The Piano Man | Winner |
| 2000 | Author | Christopher Paul Curtis | Bud, Not Buddy | Winner |
| 2000 | Author | Karen English | Francie | Honor |
| 2000 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers | Honor |
| 2000 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Monster | Honor |
| 2000 | Illustrator | Brian Pinkney | In the Time of the Drums | Winner |
| 2000 | Illustrator | E. B. Lewis | My Rows and Piles of Coins | Honor |
| 2000 | Illustrator | Christopher Myers | Black Cat | Honor |
| 2001 | Author | Jacqueline Woodson | Miracle's Boys | Winner |
| 2001 | Author | Andrea Davis Pinkney | Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters | Honor |
| 2001 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Uptown | Winner |
| 2001 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Freedom River | Honor |
| 2001 | Illustrator | R. Gregory Christie | Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth | Honor |
| 2001 | Illustrator | E. B. Lewis | Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys | Honor |
| 2002 | Author | Mildred Taylor | The Land | Winner |
| 2002 | Author | Sharon G. Flake | Money-Hungry | Honor |
| 2002 | Author | Marilyn Nelson | Carver: A Life in Poems | Honor |
| 2002 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | Goin' Someplace Special | Winner |
| 2002 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Martin's Big Words | Honor |
| 2002 | Steptoe illustrator | Jerome Lagarrigue | Freedom Summer | Winner |
| 2003 | Author | Nikki Grimes | Bronx Masquerade | Winner |
| 2003 | Author | Brenda Woods | The Red Rose Box | Honor |
| 2003 | Author | Nikki Grimes | Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman | Honor |
| 2003 | Illustrator | E. B. Lewis | Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman | Winner |
| 2003 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Visiting Langston | Honor |
| 2003 | Steptoe author | Janet McDonald | Chill Wind | Winner |
| 2003 | Steptoe author / illustrator | Randy DuBurke | The Moon Ring | Winner |
| 2004 | Author | Angela Johnson | The First Part Last | Winner |
| 2004 | Author | Patricia C. and Fredrick L. McKissack | Days Of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States | Honor |
| 2004 | Author | Sharon Draper | The Battle of Jericho | Honor |
| 2004 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Beautiful Blackbird | Winner |
| 2004 | Illustrator | Colin Bootman | Almost to Freedom | Honor |
| 2004 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | Thunder Rose | Honor |
| 2004 | Illustrator | Leo and Diane Dillon | Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles | Honor |
| 2004 | Steptoe author | Hope Anita Smith | The Way a Door Closes | Winner |
| 2005 | Author | Toni Morrison | Remember: The Journey to School Integration | Winner |
| 2005 | Author | Shelia P. Moses | The Legend of Buddy Bush | Honor |
| 2005 | Author | Sharon G. Flake | Who Am I without Him?: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in Their Lives | Honor |
| 2005 | Author | Marilyn Nelson | Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem | Honor |
| 2005 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | Ellington Was Not a Street | Winner |
| 2005 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | God Bless the Child | Honor |
| 2005 | Illustrator | Leo and Diane Dillon | The People Could Fly: The Picture Book | Honor |
| 2005 | Steptoe author | Barbara Hathaway | Missy Violet and Me | Winner |
| 2005 | Steptoe illustrator | Frank Morrison | Jazzy Miz Mozetta | Winner |
| 2006 | Author | Julius Lester | Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue | Winner |
| 2006 | Author | Tonya Bolden | Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl | Honor |
| 2006 | Author | Nikki Grimes | Dark Sons | Honor |
| 2006 | Author | Marilyn Nelson | A Wreath for Emmett Till | Honor |
| 2006 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Rosa | Winner |
| 2006 | Illustrator | R. Gregory Christie | Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan | Honor |
| 2006 | Steptoe author | Jaime Adoff | Jimi & Me | Winner |
| 2007 | Author | Sharon Draper | Copper Sun | Winner |
| 2007 | Author | Nikki Grimes | The Road to Paris | Honor |
| 2007 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom | Winner |
| 2007 | Illustrator | Christopher Myers | Jazz | Honor |
| 2007 | Illustrator | Benny Andrews | Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes | Honor |
| 2007 | Steptoe author | Traci L. Jones | Standing Against the Wind | Winner |
| 2008 | Author | Christopher Paul Curtis | Elijah of Buxton | Winner |
| 2008 | Author | Sharon Draper | November Blues | Honor |
| 2008 | Author | Charles R. Smith Jr. | Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali | Honor |
| 2008 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals | Winner |
| 2008 | Illustrator | Nancy Devard | The Secret Olivia Told Me | Honor |
| 2008 | Illustrator | Leo and Diane Dillon | Jazz on a Saturday Night | Honor |
| 2008 | 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 |
| 2009 | Author | Hope Anita Smith | Keeping the Night Watch | Honor |
| 2009 | Author | Joyce Carol Thomas | The Blacker the Berry | Honor |
| 2009 | Author | Carole Boston Weatherford | Becoming Billie Holiday | Honor |
| 2009 | Illustrator | Floyd Cooper | The Blacker the Berry | Winner |
| 2009 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball | Honor |
| 2009 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | The Moon Over Star | Honor |
| 2009 | Illustrator | Sean Qualls | Before John Was a Jazz Giant | Honor |
| 2009 | 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 |
| 2010 | Author | Tanita S. Davis | Mare's War | Honor |
| 2010 | Illustrator | Charles R. Smith Jr. | My People | Winner |
| 2010 | Illustrator | E. B. Lewis | The Negro Speaks of Rivers | Honor |
| 2010 | Steptoe author | Kekla Magoon | The Rock and the River | Winner |
| 2011 | Author | Rita Williams-Garcia | One Crazy Summer | Winner |
| 2011 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Lockdown | Honor |
| 2011 | Author | Jewell Parker Rhodes | Ninth Ward | Honor |
| 2011 | Author | G. Neri | Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty | Honor |
| 2011 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave | Winner |
| 2011 | Illustrator | Javaka Steptoe | Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix | Honor |
| 2011 | Steptoe author | Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon | Zora and Me | Winner |
| 2011 | Steptoe illustrator | Sonia Lynn Sadler | Seeds of Change | Winner |
| 2012 | Author | Kadir Nelson | Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans | Winner |
| 2012 | Author | Eloise Greenfield | The Great Migration: Journey to the North | Honor |
| 2012 | Author | Patricia C. McKissack | Never Forgotten | Honor |
| 2012 | Illustrator | Shane W. Evans | Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom | Winner |
| 2012 | Illustrator | 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 |
| 2013 | Author | Jacqueline Woodson | Each Kindness | Honor |
| 2013 | Author | Vaunda Micheaux Nelson | No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Micheaux, Harlem Bookseller | Honor |
| 2013 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | I, Too, Am America | Winner |
| 2013 | Illustrator | Daniel Minter | Ellen's Broom | Honor |
| 2013 | Illustrator | Christopher Myers | H.O.R.S.E. | Honor |
| 2013 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. | Honor |
| 2014 | Author | Rita Williams-Garcia | P.S. Be Eleven | Winner |
| 2014 | Author | John Lewis and Andrew Aydin | March: Book One | Honor |
| 2014 | Author | Walter Dean Myers | Darius & Twig | Honor |
| 2014 | Author | Nikki Grimes | Words with Wings | Honor |
| 2014 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me | Winner |
| 2014 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | Nelson Mandela | Honor |
| 2014 | 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 |
| 2015 | Author | Kwame Alexander | The Crossover | Honor |
| 2015 | Author | Marilyn Nelson | How I Discovered Poetry | Honor |
| 2015 | Author | Kekla Magoon | How It Went Down | Honor |
| 2015 | Illustrator | Christopher Myers | Firebird | Winner |
| 2015 | Illustrator | Christian Robinson | Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker | Honor |
| 2015 | Illustrator | Frank Morrison | Little Melba and Her Big Trombone | Honor |
| 2015 | Steptoe author | Jason Reynolds | When I Was the Greatest | Winner |
| 2016 | Author | Rita Williams-Garcia | Gone Crazy in Alabama | Winner |
| 2016 | Author | Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely | All American Boys | Honor |
| 2016 | Author | Jason Reynolds | The Boy in the Black Suit | Honor |
| 2016 | Author | Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon | X: A Novel | Honor |
| 2016 | Illustrator | Bryan Collier | Trombone Shorty | Winner |
| 2016 | Illustrator | R. Gregory Christie | The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore | Honor |
| 2016 | Illustrator | Christian Robinson | Last Stop on Market Street | Honor |
| 2016 | Steptoe author | Ronald L. Smith | Hoodoo | Winner |
| 2016 | 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 |
| 2017 | Author | Jason Reynolds | As Brave as You | Honor |
| 2017 | Author | Ashley Bryan | Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan | Honor |
| 2017 | Illustrator | Javaka Steptoe | Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat | Winner |
| 2017 | Illustrator | R. Gregory Christie | Freedom in Congo Square | Honor |
| 2017 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan | Honor |
| 2017 | Illustrator | Jerry Pinkney | In Plain Sight | Honor |
| 2017 | Steptoe author | Nicola Yoon | The Sun Is Also a Star | Winner |
| 2018 | Author | Renée Watson | Piecing Me Together | Winner |
| 2018 | Author | Derrick Barnes | Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut | Honor |
| 2018 | Author | Jason Reynolds | Long Way Down | Honor |
| 2018 | Author | Angie Thomas | The Hate U Give | Honor |
| 2018 | Illustrator | Ekua Holmes | Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets | Winner |
| 2018 | Illustrator | Gordon C. James | Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut | Honor |
| 2018 | Illustrator | James Ransome | Before She Was Harriet: The Story of Harriet Tubman | Honor |
| 2018 | Steptoe author | David Barclay Moore | The Stars Beneath Our Feet | Winner |
| 2018 | 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 |
| 2019 | Author | Lesa Cline-Ransome | Finding Langston | Honor |
| 2019 | Author | Varian Johnson | The Parker Inheritance | Honor |
| 2019 | Author | Kekla Magoon | The Season of Styx Malone | Honor |
| 2019 | Illustrator | Ekua Holmes | The Stuff of Stars | Winner |
| 2019 | Illustrator | Laura Freeman | Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race | Honor |
| 2019 | Illustrator | Frank Morrison | Let the Children March | Honor |
| 2019 | Illustrator | R. Gregory Christie | Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop | Honor |
| 2019 | Steptoe author | Tiffany D. Jackson | Monday's Not Coming | Winner |
| 2019 | Steptoe illustrator | Oge Mora | Thank You, Omu! | Winner |
| 2020 | Author | Jerry Craft | New Kid | Winner |
| 2020 | Author | Junauda Petrus | The Stars and the Blackness Between Them | Honor |
| 2020 | Author | Kwame Mbalia | Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky | Honor |
| 2020 | Author | Jason Reynolds | Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks | Honor |
| 2020 | Illustrator | Kadir Nelson | The Undefeated | Winner |
| 2020 | Illustrator | James Ransome | The Bell Rang | Honor |
| 2020 | Illustrator | Ashley Bryan | Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace | Honor |
| 2020 | Illustrator | Vashti Harrison | Sulwe | Honor |
| 2020 | Steptoe author | Alicia D. Williams | Genesis Begins Again | Winner |
| 2020 | Steptoe illustrator | April Harrison | What is Given from the Heart | Winner |
| 2021 | Author | Jacqueline Woodson | Before the Ever After | Winner |
| 2021 | Author | Mildred Taylor | All the Days Past, All the Days to Come | Honor |
| 2021 | Author | Kacen Callender | King and the Dragonflies | Honor |
| 2021 | Author | Evette Dionne | Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box | Honor |
| 2021 | Illustrator | Frank Morrison | R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul | Winner |
| 2021 | Illustrator | Kaylani Juanita | Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration | Honor |
| 2021 | Illustrator | Cozbi A. Cabrera | Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks | Honor |
| 2021 | Illustrator | Cozbi A. Cabrera | Me & Mama | Honor |
| 2021 | Steptoe author | Tracy Deonn | Legendborn | Winner |
| 2022 | Author | Carole Boston Weatherford | Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre | Winner |
| 2022 | Author | Safia Elhillo | Home Is Not a Country | Honor |
| 2022 | Author | Kekla Magoon | Revolution in Our Time | Honor |
| 2022 | Author | Ibi Zoboi | The People Remember | Honor |
| 2022 | Illustrator | Floyd Cooper | Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre | Winner |
| 2022 | Illustrator | Christian Robinson | Nina: A Story of Nina Simone | Honor |
| 2022 | Illustrator | Raissa Figueroa | We Wait for the Sun | Honor |
| 2022 | Illustrator | C.G. Esperanza | Soul Food Sunday | Honor |
| 2022 | Steptoe author | Amber McBride | Me (Moth) | Winner |
| 2023 | Author | Amina Luqman-Dawson | Freewater | Winner |
| 2023 | Author | Ibi Zoboi | Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler | Honor |
| 2023 | Author | Alicia D. Williams | The Talk | Honor |
| 2023 | Author | Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes | Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice | Honor |
| 2023 | Illustrator | Frank Morrison | Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual | Winner |
| 2023 | Illustrator | April Harrison | Me and the Boss: A Story of Mending and Love | Honor |
| 2023 | Illustrator | Johnnie Christmas | Swim Team | Honor |
| 2023 | Illustrator | Dawud Anyabwile | Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice | Honor |
| 2023 | Steptoe author | Jas Hammonds | We Deserve Monuments | Winner |
| 2023 | 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 |
| 2024 | Author | Vashti Harrison | Big | Honor |
| 2024 | Author | Carole Boston Weatherford | How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee | Honor |
| 2024 | Author | Carole Boston Weatherford | Kin: Rooted in Hope | Honor |
| 2024 | Illustrator | Dare Coulter | An American Story | Winner |
| 2024 | Illustrator | Vashti Harrison | Big | Honor |
| 2024 | Illustrator | Shannon Wright | Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes | Honor |
| 2024 | Illustrator | Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey | There Was a Party for Langston | Honor |
| 2024 | Steptoe author | Jade Adia | There Goes the Neighborhood | Winner |
| 2024 | Steptoe illustrator | Briana Mukodiri Uchendu | We Could Fly | Winner |
| 2025 | Author | Jason Reynolds | Twenty-four Seconds from Now... | Winner |
| 2025 | Author | Renée Watson | Black Girl You Are Atlas | Honor |
| 2025 | Author | Kwame Alexander | Black Star | Honor |
| 2025 | Author | Lesa Cline-Ransome | One Big Open Sky | Honor |
| 2025 | Illustrator | C. G. Esperanza | My Daddy Is a Cowboy | Winner |
| 2025 | Illustrator | Ekua Holmes | Coretta | Honor |
| 2025 | Illustrator | E. B. Lewis | Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem | Honor |
| 2025 | Illustrator | April Harrison | Go Forth and Tell | Honor |
| 2025 | Steptoe author | Craig Kofi Farmer | Kwame Crashes the Underworld | Winner |
| 2025 | Steptoe illustrator | Jamiel Law | Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues | Honor |

## 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
* 2025: Carolyn L. Garnes, public library director and founder of Aunt Lil’s Reading Room