| Coretta Scott King Award | |
| Awarded For: | The most distinguished portrayal of African American experience in literature for children or teens |
| Presenter: | Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, a round table of the American Library Association (ALA) |
| Country: | United States |
| Year: | 1970 |
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.
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.[1]
The idea for the Coretta Scott King Award came from Glyndon Flynt Greer, a school librarian in Englewood, New Jersey.[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. 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.[4] 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.[5] 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 1974-1976. In 1976, a separate awards committee and an advisory board of mostly local librarians were formed, co-chaired by Ella Gaines Yates.
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.[6] 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.
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. 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.
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.[7] 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.[8]
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.
| scope=col | Row color | scope=col | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row style="background:#B0C4DE; color:black" | Indicates a Coretta Scott King author winner | ||
| scope=row style="background: LightYellow; color:black" | Indicates a Coretta Scott King illustrator winner | ||
| scope=row style="background:#FFE3E3; color: black;" | Indicates a John Steptoe Award for New Talent winner | ||
| scope=row style="background:Lavender; color:black" | Indicates a special recognition |
| Work | scope=col width="20%" | Recipient | scope=col width="30%" | Title | scope=col width="10%" | Citation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope=row | 1970 | scope=row | Author | Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace | Winner | ||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 1971 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | Author | Black Troubadour: Langston Hughes | Winner | ||
| I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Honor | ||||||
| Unbought and Unbossed | |||||||
| I Am a Black Woman | |||||||
| Every Man Heart Lay Down | |||||||
| Black Means | |||||||
| Ebony Book of Black Achievement | |||||||
| Mary Jo's Grandmother | |||||||
| scope=row | 1972 | scope=row | Author | 17 Black Artists | Winner | ||
| scope=row | 1973 | scope=row | Author | I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson | Winner | ||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 1974 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | Author | Ray Charles | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Don't You Remember? | |||||||
| Ms. Africa: Profiles of Modern African Women | |||||||
| Guest in the Promise Land | |||||||
| Mukasa | |||||||
| scope=row | Illustrator | Ray Charles | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | 1975 | scope=row | Author | Winner | |||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | 1976 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | Author | Duey's Tale | Winner | ||
| Julius K. Nyerere: Teacher of Africa | Honor | ||||||
| Paul Robeson | |||||||
| Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff | |||||||
| Song of the Trees | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | 1977 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Winner | |||
| Everett Anderson's Friend | Honor | ||||||
| Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry | |||||||
| Quiz Book on Black America | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 1978 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | Author | Africa Dream | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Marvin and Tige | |||||||
| Mary McCleod Bethune | |||||||
| Barbara Jordan | |||||||
| Coretta Scott King | |||||||
| Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington | |||||||
| scope=row | Illustrator | Africa Dream | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1979 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | Author | Escape to Freedom | Winner | ||
| Benjamin Banneker | Honor | ||||||
| I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf | |||||||
| Justice and Her Brothers | |||||||
| Skates of Uncle Richard | |||||||
| scope=row | Illustrator | Something on My Mind | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 1980 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | Author | Winner | |||
| Movin' Up | Honor | ||||||
| Andrew Young: Young Man with a Mission | |||||||
| James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin' Man | |||||||
| Let the Lion Eat Straw | |||||||
| scope=row | Illustrator | Cornrows | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | 1981 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | This Life | Winner | ||
| Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum | Winner | ||||
| Grandmama's Joy | Honor | ||||||
| Count on Your Fingers African Style | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1982 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Let the Circle Be Unbroken | Winner | ||
| Rainbow Jordan | Honor | ||||||
| Lou In the Limelight | |||||||
| Mary: An Autobiography | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Mother Crocodile: An Uncle Amadou Tale from Senegal | Winner | ||||
| Daydreamers | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1983 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush | Winner | ||
| This Strange New Feeling | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Black Child | Winner | ||||
| All the Colors of the Race | Honor | ||||||
| I'm Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals | |||||||
| Just Us Women | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 1984 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | Author | Everett Anderson's Goodbye | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Lena Horne | |||||||
| Bright Shadow | |||||||
| Because We Are | |||||||
| Special | |||||||
| scope=row | Illustrator | My Mama Needs Me | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | 1985 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Motown and Didi | Winner | ||
| Circle of Gold | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | 1986 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Winner | |||
| Junius Over Far | Honor | ||||||
| Trouble's Child | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1987 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World | Winner | ||
| Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales | Honor | ||||||
| Which Way Freedom | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Half a Moon and One Whole Star | Winner | ||||
| Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales | Honor | ||||||
| C.L.O.U.D.S. | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1988 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Winner | |||
| Honor | |||||||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale | Winner | ||||
| What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1989 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Fallen Angels | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Mirandy and Brother Wind | Winner | ||||
| Under the Sunday Tree | Honor | ||||||
| Storm in the Night | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1990 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Winner | |||
| Nathaniel Talking | Honor | ||||||
| Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Freedom Movement | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Nathaniel Talking | Winner | ||||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | 1991 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Winner | |||
| Black Dance in America | Honor | ||||||
| When I Am Old with You | |||||||
| scope=row | Illustrator | Aida | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | 1992 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom | Winner | ||
| Night on Neighborhood Street | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Tar Beach | Winner | ||||
| All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals | Honor | ||||||
| Night on Neighborhood Street | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 1993 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Winner | |||
| Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? | Honor | ||||||
| Somewhere in the Darkness | |||||||
| Mississippi Challenge | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Little Eight John | Honor | ||||||
| Sukey and the Mermaid | |||||||
| Working Cotton | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 1994 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Toning the Sweep | Winner | ||
| Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea | Honor | ||||||
| Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Soul Looks Back in Wonder | Winner | ||||
| Brown Honey in Broom Wheat Tea | Honor | ||||||
| Uncle Jed's Barbershop | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 1995 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Honor | |||||||
| Meet Danitra Brown | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Tears of a Tiger | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 1996 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Like Sisters on the Homefront | |||||||
| From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Her Stories | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 1997 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | Slam | Winner | ||
| Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Honor | |||||||
| Running the Road to ABC | |||||||
| Neeny Coming, Neeny Going | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Another Way to Dance | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 1998 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Forged By Fire | Winner | ||
| Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers | Winner | ||||
| Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry | Honor | ||||||
| Harlem | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="10" | 1999 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Heaven | Winner | ||
| Jazmin's Notebook | Honor | ||||||
| Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | I See the Rhythm | Winner | ||||
| I Have Heard of a Land | Honor | ||||||
| Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Winner | |||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Winner | |||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 2000 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Bud, Not Buddy | Winner | ||
| Francie | Honor | ||||||
| Monster | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | In the Time of the Drums | Winner | ||||
| My Rows and Piles of Coins | Honor | ||||||
| Black Cat | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 2001 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | Miracle's Boys | Winner | ||
| Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Uptown | Winner | ||||
| Freedom River | Honor | ||||||
| Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth | |||||||
| Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 2002 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Winner | |||
| Money-Hungry | Honor | ||||||
| Carver: A Life in Poems | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Goin' Someplace Special | Winner | ||||
| Martin's Big Words | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Freedom Summer | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 2003 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Bronx Masquerade | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman | Winner | ||||
| Visiting Langston | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Chill Wind | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author / illustrator | Winner | |||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 2004 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Winner | |||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Beautiful Blackbird | Winner | ||||
| Almost to Freedom | Honor | ||||||
| Thunder Rose | |||||||
| Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Winner | |||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 2005 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Remember: The Journey to School Integration | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Who Am I without Him?: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in Their Lives | |||||||
| Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Ellington Was Not a Street | Winner | ||||
| God Bless the Child | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Missy Violet and Me | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Jazzy Miz Mozetta | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 2006 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue | Winner | ||
| Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl | Honor | ||||||
| Dark Sons | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Rosa | Winner | ||||
| Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Jimi & Me | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="6" | 2007 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | Copper Sun | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Jazz | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Standing Against the Wind | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 2008 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Elijah of Buxton | Winner | ||
| November Blues | Honor | ||||||
| Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals | Winner | ||||
| Honor | |||||||
| Jazz on a Saturday Night | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 2009 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball | Winner | ||
| Keeping the Night Watch | Honor | ||||||
| Becoming Billie Holiday | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball | Honor | ||||||
| Before John Was a Jazz Giant | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Bird | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | 2010 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Author | Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal | Winner | ||
| Mare's War | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | My People | Winner | ||||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Winner | |||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 2011 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | One Crazy Summer | Winner | ||
| Lockdown | Honor | ||||||
| Ninth Ward | |||||||
| Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Zora and Me | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Seeds of Change | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="5" | 2012 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Winner | |||
| Honor | |||||||
| Never Forgotten | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 2013 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Micheaux, Harlem Bookseller | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | I, Too, Am America | Winner | ||||
| Ellen's Broom | Honor | ||||||
| H.O.R.S.E. | |||||||
| I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="7" | 2014 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | P.S. Be Eleven | Winner | ||
| March: Book One | Honor | ||||||
| Darius & Twig | |||||||
| Words with Wings | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="2" | Illustrator | Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me | Winner | ||||
| Nelson Mandela | Honor | ||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 2015 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Brown Girl Dreaming | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| How I Discovered Poetry | |||||||
| How It Went Down | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Firebird | Winner | ||||
| Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker | Honor | ||||||
| Little Melba and Her Big Trombone | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | When I Was the Greatest | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 2016 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Gone Crazy in Alabama | Winner | ||
| and | All American Boys | Honor | |||||
| and | X: A Novel | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Trombone Shorty | Winner | ||||
| Honor | |||||||
| Last Stop on Market Street | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Hoodoo | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Winner | |||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="8" | 2017 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Author | and | March: Book Three | Winner | |
| As Brave as You | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Freedom in Congo Square | Honor | ||||||
| In Plain Sight | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Winner | |||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 2018 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Piecing Me Together | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Long Way Down | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="3" | Illustrator | Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets | Winner | ||||
| Honor | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Winner | |||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="10" | 2019 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Winner | |||
| Finding Langston | Honor | ||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race | Honor | ||||||
| Let the Children March | |||||||
| Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Monday's Not Coming | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Thank You, Omu! | Winner | ||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="10" | 2020 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | New Kid | Winner | ||
| Honor | |||||||
| Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky | |||||||
| Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Honor | |||||||
| Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace | |||||||
| Sulwe | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Genesis Begins Again | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | What is Given from the Heart | Winner | ||||
| - | scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 2021 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Before the Ever After | Winner | |
| All the Days Past, All the Days to Come | Honor | ||||||
| King and the Dragonflies | |||||||
| Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box | |||||||
| scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Winner | |||||
| Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration | Honor | ||||||
| Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks | |||||||
| Me & Mama | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Legendborn | Winner | ||||
| - | scope=rowgroup rowspan="9" | 2022 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Winner | ||
| Home Is Not a Country | Honor | ||||||
| Revolution in Our Time | |||||||
| - | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre | Winner | |||
| Nina: A Story of Nina Simone | Honor | ||||||
| We Wait for the Sun | |||||||
| Soul Food Sunday | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | Me (Moth) | Winner | ||||
| - | scope=rowgroup rowspan="10" | 2023 | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Author | Freewater | Winner | |
| Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler | Honor | ||||||
| and Derrick Barnes | |||||||
| - | scope=rowgroup rowspan="4" | Illustrator | Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual | Winner | |||
| Me and the Boss: A Story of Mending and Love | Honor | ||||||
| Swim Team | |||||||
| Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice | |||||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | We Deserve Monuments | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement | Winner | ||||
| - | 2024[9] [10] | Author | Ibi Zoboi | Nigeria Jones | Winner | ||
| Vashti Harrison | Big | Honor | |||||
| Carole Boston Weatherford | Honor | ||||||
| Carole Boston Weatherford | Kin: Rooted in Hope | Honor | |||||
| - | Illustrator | Dare Coulter | An American Story | Winner | |||
| Vashti Harrison | Big | Honor | |||||
| Shannon Wright | Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes | Honor | |||||
| Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey | There Was a Party for Langston | Honor | |||||
| scope=row | Steptoe author | There Goes the Neighborhood | Winner | ||||
| scope=row | Steptoe illustrator | We Could Fly | Winner |
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."