All 363 Coretta Scott King Award Winning and Honored Books Since 1970
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2024 — Author Honor
How Do You Spell Unfair?: Macnolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick Press (MA))
2024 — Author Honor
Kin: Rooted in Hope
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
2024 — Illustrator Award
An American Story
by Kwame Alexander (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
2024 — Illustrator Honor
Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes
by Traci N. Todd (Orchard Books)
2024 — John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award
We Could Fly
by Rhiannon Giddens (Candlewick Press (MA))
2023 — Author Honor
Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler
by Ibi Zoboi (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
2023 — Author Honor
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile (Norton Young Readers)
2023 — Illustrator Award
Standing in the Need of Prayer (paperback): A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Crown Books for Young Readers)
2023 — Illustrator Honor
Me and the Boss: A Story about Mending and Love
by Michelle Edwards (Anne Schwartz Books)
2023 — Illustrator Honor
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile (Norton Young Readers)
2023 — John Steptoe Illustrator Award for New Talent
Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
by Angela Joy (Roaring Brook Press)
2022 — Author Award
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Carolrhoda Books)
2022 — Author Honor
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People
by Kekla Magoon (Candlewick Press)
2022 — Illustrator Award
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Carolrhoda Books)
2022 — Illustrator Honor
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone
by Traci N. Todd (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
2022 — John Steptoe Illustrator Award for New Talent
The Me I Choose to Be
by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
2021 — Author Honor
All the Days Past, All the Days to Come
by Mildred D. Taylor (Viking Books for Young Readers)
2021 — Author Honor
Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box
by Evette Dionne (Viking Books for Young Readers)
2021 — Illustrator Award
Respect: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
2021 — Illustrator Honor
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
by Suzanne Slade (Harry N. Abrams)
2021 — Illustrator Honor
Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration
by Samara Cole Doyon (Tilbury House Publishers)
2020 — Author Honor
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
by Junauda Petrus (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
2020 — Author Honor
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
by Kwame Mbalia (Rick Riordan Presents)
2020 — Illustrator Honor
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum)
2020 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Genesis Begins Again
by Alicia D. Williams (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books)
2020 — John Steptoe Illustrator Award for New Talent
What Is Given from the Heart
by Patricia C. Mckissack (Schwartz & Wade)
2019 — Author Award
A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919
by Claire Hartfield (Clarion Books)
2019 — Illustrator Honor
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
by Margot Lee Shetterly (HarperCollins)
2019 — Illustrator Honor
Let the Children March
by Monica Clark-Robinson (HMH Books for Young Readers)
2019 — Illustrator Honor
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
by Alice Faye Duncan (Calkins Creek)
2019 — John Steptoe Author Award for New Talent
Monday’s Not Coming
by Tiffany D. Jackson (Katherine Tegen Books)
2019 — John Steptoe Illustrator Award for New Talent
Thank You, Omu!
by Oge Mora (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
2018 — Illustrator Award
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
by Kwame Alexander (Candlewick Press)
2018 — John Steptoe Author Award for New Talent
The Stars Beneath Our Feet
by David Barclay Moore (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
2018 — John Steptoe Illustrator Award for New Talent
Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song
by Kathryn Erskine (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Younger Readers)
2017 — Author Honor
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books)
2017 — Illustrator Award
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
by Javaka Steptoe (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
2016 — Illustrator Honor
Last Stop on Market Street
by Matt De La Peña (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
2016 — Illustrator Honor
The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Carolrhoda Books)
2016 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick Press)
2015 — Illustrator Honor
Josephine: The Dazzling Life Of Josephine Baker
by Patricia Hruby Powell (Chronicle Books)
2015 — Illustrator Honor
Little Melba And Her Big Trombone
by Katheryn Russell-Brown (Lee & Low Books)
2015 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
When I Was the Greatest (paperback)
by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
2014 — Illustrator Award
Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me
by Daniel Beaty (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
2014 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
When The Beat Was Born: Dj Kool Herc And The Creation Of Hip Hop
by Laban Carrick Hill (Palgrave Macmillan)
2013 — Author Award
Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America
by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney (Disney-Hyperion)
2013 — Illustrator Award
I, Too, Am America
by Langston Hughes (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
2013 — Illustrator Honor
Ellen’s Broom
by Kelly Starling Lyons (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
2013 — Illustrator Honor
H.O.R.S.E.: A Game Of Basketball And Imagination
by Christopher Myers (Egmont USA)
2012 — Author Award
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
by Kadir Nelson (Amistad)
2012 — Author Honor
Never Forgotten
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Schwartz & Wade)
2012 — Illustrator Award
Underground: Finding The Light To Freedom
by Shane W. Evans (Palgrave Macmillan)
2012 — Illustrator Honor
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
by Kadir Nelson (Amistad)
2011 — Illustrator Award
Dave The Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
by Laban Carrick Hill (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
2011 — Illustrator Honor
Jimi: Sounds Like A Rainbow: A Story Of The Young Jimi Hendrix
by Gary Golio (Clarion Books)
2011 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Seeds Of Change: Planting A Path To Peace
by Jen Johnson (Lee & Low Books)
2011 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Zora and Me
by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press)
2010 — Author Award
Bad News For Outlaws: The Remarkable Life Of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Carolrhoda Books)
2009 — Author Award
We Are The Ship: The Story Of Negro League Baseball
by Kadir Nelson (Disney-Hyperion)
2009 — Illustrator Honor
Before John Was A Jazz Giant: A Song Of John Coltrane
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Henry Holt & Company)
2009 — Illustrator Honor
We Are The Ship: The Story Of Negro League Baseball
by Kadir Nelson (Disney-Hyperion)
2008 — Author Honor
12 Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali
by Charles R. Smith Jr. (Candlewick Press)
2008 — Illustrator Honor
Jazz On A Saturday Night (Coretta Scott King Honor Book)
by Leo & Diane Dillon (The Blue Sky Press)
2008 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It
by Sundee T. Frazier (Yearling)
2007 — Illustrator Award
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Disney-Hyperion)
2007 — Illustrator Honor
Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes
by Langston Hughes (Sterling Children’s Books)
2005 — Author Award
Remember: The Journey to School Integration
by Toni Morrison (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
2005 — Illustrator Award
Ellington Was Not a Street
by Ntozake Shange (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
2005 — Illustrator Honor
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
by Virginia Hamilton (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
2005 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Jazzy Miz Mozetta
by Brenda C. Roberts (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Younger Readers)
2005 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Missy Violet and Me
by Barbara Hathaway (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
2004 — Author Award
The First Part Last
by Angela Johnson (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
2004 — Author Honor
Days Of Jubilee
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Scholastic Press)
2003 — Author Honor
Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
by Nikki Grimes (Scholastic Inc)
2003 — Illustrator Award
Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
by Nikki Grimes (Scholastic Inc)
2003 — Illustrator Honor
Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles - Think of That!
by Leo & Diane Dillon (Scholastic Inc)
2003 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Chill Wind
by Janet McDonald (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Younger Readers)
2002 — Illustrator Award
Goin’ Someplace Special
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Aladdin)
2002 — Illustrator Honor
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Doreen Rappaport (Disney-Hyperion)
2002 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Freedom Summer: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Summer
by Maya Angelou (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
2001 — Author Honor
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
2001 — Illustrator Honor
Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys
by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard (Aladdin)
2000 — Author Honor
Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Scholastic Press)
2000 — Illustrator Honor
My Rows and Piles of Coins
by Tololwa M. Mollel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
1999 — Author Honor
Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York’s African Burial Ground
by Joyce Hansen (Henry Holt & Company)
1999 — Illustrator Honor
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra
by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Disney-Hyperion)
1998 — Author Honor
Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement
by James Haskins (Disney-Hyperion)
1998 — Author Honor
I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series)
by Joyce Hansen (Scholastic Inc)
1998 — Illustrator Award
In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall
by Folami Abiade, Dinah Johnson, Carole Boston Weatherford, Dakari Hru, Michael Burgess, E. Ethelbert Miller, Lenard D. Moore, David Anderson, Angela Johnson, Sonia Sanchez, and Davida Adedjouma (Lee & Low Books)
1998 — Illustrator Honor
Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African American Poetry
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1998 — Illustrator Honor
The Hunterman and the Crocodile: A West African Folktale
by Baba Wagué Diakité (Scholastic Inc)
1997 — Author Honor
Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Scholastic Press)
1997 — Illustrator Honor
Running The Road To ABC (Aladdin Picture Books)
by Denize Lauture (Aladdin)
1997 — Illustrator Honor
The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children
by Davida Adedjouma (Lee & Low Books)
1996 — Author Award
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, And True Tales
by Virginia Hamilton (Blue Sky Press)
1996 — Illustrator Award
The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo
by Tom Feelings (Dial Books for Young Readers)
1996 — Illustrator Honor
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, And True Tales
by Virginia Hamilton (Blue Sky Press)
1995 — Author Award
Christmas In The Big House: Christmas In The Quarters
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Scholastic Inc)
1995 — Author Honor
Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues (Polaris)
by Patricia C. Mckissack (Scholastic Paperbacks)
1995 — Illustrator Honor
The Singing Man: Adapted from a West African Folktale
by Angela S. Medearis (Holiday House)
1995 — John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Tears Of A Tiger (Hazelwood High Trilogy)
by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1994 — Illustrator Award
Soul Looks Back in Wonder
by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Walter Dean Myers, Haki R. Madhubuti, Lucille Clifton and 8 others (Puffin Books)
1993 — Author Award
The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural
by Patricia C. Mckissack (Yearling)
1993 — Author Honor
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?
by Patricia C. Mckissack (Scholastic Paperbacks)
1993 — Illustrator Award
The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth
by Sankofa and David A. Anderson (Sights Production)
1992 — Author Award
Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom
by Walter Dean Myers (Amistad)
1992 — Author Honor
Night on Neighborhood Street (Picture Puffins)
by Eloise Greenfield (Puffin Books)
1992 — Illustrator Honor
All Night, All Day: A Child’s First Book of African-American Spirituals
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1992 — Illustrator Honor
Night on Neighborhood Street (Picture Puffins)
by Eloise Greenfield (Puffin Books)
1991 — Author Honor
Black Dance in America: A History Through Its People
by James Haskins (Harper & Row)
1990 — Author Award
A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter (Walker’s American History Series for Young People)
by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack (Walker Childrens)
1990 — Author Honor
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Movement (Makers of America)
by Lillie Patterson (Checkmark Books)
1989 — Author Honor
A Thief in the Village: And Other Stories of Jamaica
by James Berry (Puffin Books)
1989 — Author Honor
Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave (Laurel-leaf books)
by Virginia Hamilton (Laurel Leaf)
1988 — Author Honor
An Enchanted Hair Tale (Reading Rainbow Book)
by Alexis De Veaux (Harpercollins Childrens Books)
1988 — Author Honor
Tales of Uncle Remus (Puffin Modern Classics): The Adventures of Brer Rabbit
by Julius Lester (Puffin Books)
1988 — Illustrator Award
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale
by John Steptoe (Puffin Books)
1988 — Illustrator Honor
The Invisible Hunters/Los cazadores invisibles (Stories from Central America)
by Harriet Rohmer, Octavio Chow, and Morris Viduare (Children’s Book Press)
1988 — Illustrator Honor
What a Morning!: The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals (Aladdin Picture Books)
by John Langstaff (Aladdin)
1987 — Author Honor
Lion and the Ostrich Chicks: And Other African Folk Poems
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1987 — Illustrator Award
Half a Moon and One Whole Star
by Crescent Dragonwagon (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1987 — Illustrator Honor
Lion and the Ostrich Chicks: And Other African Folk Poems
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1986 — Author Award
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
by Leo & Diane Dillon (Alfred A. Knopf)
1986 — Illustrator Honor
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
by Leo & Diane Dillon (Alfred A. Knopf)
1984 — Author Honor
Lena: A Personal and Professional Biography of Lena Horne
by James Haskins (Stein & Day)
1983 — Illustrator Honor
I’m Going to Sing (Black American Spirituals, Vol. 2)
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum)
1982 — Author Honor
Mary: An Autobiography (Chapel Hill Books)
by Mary E. Mebane (The University of North Carolina Press)
1981 — Author Honor
Don’t Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday
by Alexis De Veaux (Writers and Readers Publishing)
1981 — Illustrator Award
Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum (Aladdin Books)
by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
1980 — Author Honor
Andrew Young, Man With a Mission
by James Haskins (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books)
1980 — Author Honor
Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir
by Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little (Amistad)
1979 — Author Award
Escape To Freedom: A Play About Young Frederick Douglass (Puffin books)
by Ossie Davis (Puffin Books)
1978 — Author Honor
Coretta Scott King (Americans All)
by Lillie Patterson (Garrard Publishing Company)
1978 — Author Honor
Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington
by Ruth Ann Stewart (Doubleday)
1978 — Author Honor
The Days When the Animals Talked: Black American Folktales and How They Came to Be (Young Readers)
by William J. Faulkner (Africa World Press)
1977 — Author Honor
Quiz Book on Black America
by Clarence N. Blake and Donald F. Martin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
1977 — Author Honor
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial Books for Young Readers)
1975 — Author Award
The Legend of Africania (An Ebony Jr! Book)
by Dorothy W. Robinson (Johnson Publishing Company, Inc.)
1973 — Author Award
I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson
by Jackie Robinson and Alfred Duckett (Ecco)
1971 — Author Honor
The Ebony Book of Black Achievement
by Margaret Peters (Johnson Publishing Company, Inc.)
1971 — Author Honor
Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition
by Shirley Chisholm (Take Root Media)
