Coretta Scott King Award

The idea for the Coretta Scott King Award originated with librarian Glyndon Flynt Greer.[2] 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.[3] The award's name was intentionally chosen to honor recently assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.[4] The name also commemorates the life of Dr. King and honors the dedication Coretta Scott King had to making the world a place that welcomes all people.[5]

It was particularly fitting that the first Coretta Scott King Award was presented to Lillie Patterson, a school librarian from New Jersey, for her elementary level biography Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace.[3] The award's first presentation was held during the 1970 New Jersey Library Association conference in Atlantic City, and its second at the corresponding conference in 1971. 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.[6]^: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. However, the award was not yet officially recognized by the ALA. As of 1972, Greer moved to Atlanta, Georgia. The award was briefly sponsored by the School of Library and Information Studies at Atlanta University. An awards committee and an advisory board of mostly local librarians were formed, co-chaired by Ella Gaines Yates.[6]^: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.[7] Mathis won the author award for 1974.[6]^:14 Starting in 1978, runner-ups to the Author award have been recognized as Honor Books. As of 1981, runner-ups to the Illustrator award have been recognized 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 August 24, 1980. Harriet Brown then became acting chair.[6]^: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.[6]^:14–17[8]

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.[9]

The award eventually changed its ALA affiliation from the SRRT to the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), which had become a closer match for its activities.[10] Dr. Henrietta M. Smith has edited four volumes, published by the American Library Association, that provide a history of the award.[8]

From 1996 the Coretta Scott King Awards program includes the occasional John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Through 2012, seventeen new talents have been recognized in 18 years.[11]

• 1995: Sharon Draper, author of Tears of a Tiger (Simon & Schuster)
• 1996: none
• 1997: Martha Southgate, author of Another Way to Dance (Delacorte)
• 1998: none
• 1999: Sharon Flake, author of The Skin I'm In (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion)
• 1999: Eric Velasquez, illustrator of The Piano Man, written by Debbie Chocolate (Walker Books for Young Readers)
• 2000: none
• 2001: none
• 2002: Jerome Lagarrigue, illustrator of Freedom Summer, written by Deborah Wiles (Atheneum)
• 2003: Janet McDonald, author of Chill Wind (Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• 2003: Randy DuBurke, author and illustrator of The Moon Ring (Chronicle Books)
• 2004: Hope Anita Smith, author of The Way a Door Closes, illustrated by Shane W. Evans (Henry Holt)
• 2005: Barbara Hathaway, author of Missy Violet and Me (Houghton Mifflin)
• 2005: Frank Morrison, illustrator of Jazzy Miz Mozetta, written by Brenda C. Roberts (Farrar Straus Giroux)
• 2006: Jaime Adoff, author of Jimi & Me (Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Hyperion Books for Children)
• 2007: Traci L. Jones, author of Standing Against the Wind (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• 2008: Sundee T. Frazier, author of Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It (Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books)
• 2009: Shadra Strickland, illustrator of Bird, written by Zetta Elliott (Lee & Low Books)
• 2010: Kekla Magoon, author of The Rock and the River (Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division)
• 2011: Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon, authors of Zora and Me (Candlewick Press)
• 2011: Sonia Lynn Sadler, illustrator of Seeds of Change, written by Jen Cullerton Johnson (Lee & Low Books)
• 2012: none
• 2013: none
• 2014: Theodore Taylor III, illustrator of When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop (Roaring Brook Press)
• 2015: Jason Reynolds, author of When I Was the Greatest (Atheneum)
• 2016: Ronald L. Smith, author of Hoodoo (Clarion Books)
• 2016: Ekua Holmes, illustrator of Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement (Candlewick Press)
• 2017: Nicola Yoon, author of The Sun Is Also a Star (Delacorte Press)
• 2018: David Barclay Moore, author of The Stars Beneath Our Feet (Alfred A. Knopf)
• 2018: Charly Palmer, illustrator of Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song (Farrar Straus Giroux Books)
• 2019: Oge Mora, illustrator of Thank You, Omu
• 2019: Tiffany D. Jackson, author of Monday's Not Coming
• 2020: Alicia D. Williams, author of Gensis Begins Again
• 2020: April Harrison, author of What is Given from the Heart

From 2010 the Coretta Scott King Awards include the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, or Virginia Hamilton Award.[11][12] 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."[12]

• 2010: Walter Dean Myers, author
• 2011: Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, professor emerita at the University of South Florida, Tampa, School of Library and Information Science
• 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