Ezra Jack Keats Award Winning and Honored Books
The Ezra Jack Keats Award was established in 1985 and the New Illustrator Award in 2001 to recognize and encourage emerging talent in the field of children’s books. Many past winners have gone on to distinguished careers, creating books beloved by parents, children, librarians and teachers around the world. The EJK Award is given annually to an outstanding new writer and new illustrator by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. A distinguished selection committee of early childhood education specialists, librarians, illustrators and experts in children’s literature reviews the entries, seeking books that portray the universal qualities of childhood, a strong and supportive family, and the multicultural nature of our world. To be eligible, writers and illustrators must have had no more than three books previously published. The award includes a prize of $3,000 for each winner. Learn more about this award at Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.
Below are the Ezra Jack Keats Award Winning, or Honored, Books Featuring Black Main Characters
One Book Recieved The Ezra Jack Keats Award or Honor in 2022
Illustrator Award Honoree – Honor
Many Shapes of Clay: a Story of Healing
by Kenesha Sneed, Illustrated by Kenesha Sneed
Publication Date: May 04, 2021
List Price: $16.95
Format: Hardcover, 44 pages
Classification: Fiction
Target Age Group: Early Reader
ISBN13: 9783791374680
Imprint: Prestel Junior
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
Read a Description of Many Shapes of Clay: a Story of Healing
In this modern-day fable about grief, diversity, and family connections, a young girl discovers the joys–and pain–of the creative process.
Winner of the Bookstagang Best of 2021: Best Conversation Starter Picture Books of 2021. Longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize. Ezra Jack Keats Award Honoree.
Eisha lives with her mother, a ceramic artist, who helps her make a special shape out of a piece of clay. The shape reminds Eisha of her father, of the ocean, of a lemon. As Eisha goes through her neighborhood doing errands with her mother, the piece of clay hardens and then shatters into pieces when Eisha taps it.
In poignant and powerful words and pictures, Kenesha Sneed shows how Eisha learns to live with the sense of loss and of the joyful power of making something new out of what is left behind. Illustrated with Sneed’s bold colors, graphic lines, and gestural textures, the book celebrates diversity and shares a gentle message that we all have the ability to heal and create.