Ezra Jack Keats Award Winning and Honored Books
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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 reviews the entries, seeking books that portray the universal qualities of childhood, a strong and supportive family, and the multicultural nature of our world. 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 Received The Ezra Jack Keats Award or Honor in 2025
Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
by Breanna J. McDaniel, Illustrated by April Harrison
From an award-winning author and illustrator comes this picture book biography about beloved librarian and storyteller Augusta Braxton Baker, the first Black coordinator of children s services at all branches of the New York Public Library.
Before Augusta Braxton Baker became a storyteller, she was an excellent story listener. Her grandmother brought stories like Br er Rabbit and Arthur and Excalibur to life, teaching young Augusta that when there s a will, there s always a way. When she grew up, Mrs. Baker began telling her own fantastical stories to children at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem. But she noticed that there were hardly any books at the library featuring Black people in respectful, uplifting ways. Thus began her journey of championing books, writers, librarians, and teachers centering Black stories, educating and inspiring future acclaimed authors like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin along the way.
As Mrs. Baker herself put it: Children of all ages want to hear stories. Select well, prepare well and then go forth and just tell.