The Coretta Scott King Award

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff

For African-American authors and illustrators whose books promote the contributions to the American dream; given by the American Library Association. A separate award for illustrator was added in 1979.

Coretta Scott King was an African-American civil-rights leader.

2016 Author: Gone Crazy in Alabama, written by Rita Williams-Garcia
Illustrator: Trombone Shorty, illustrated by Bryan Collier
2015 Author: brown girl dreaming, written by Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator: Firebird, illustrated by Christopher Myers
2014 Author: P.S. Be Eleven, written by Rita Williams-Garcia
Illustrator: Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me, illustrated by Bryan Collier
2013 Author: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, written by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Illustrator: I, Too, Am American, illustrated by Bryan Collier
2012 Author: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, written by Kadir Nelson
Illustrator: Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom, illustrated by Shane W. Evans
2011 Author: One Crazy Summer, written by Rita Williams-Garcia
Illustrator: Dave the Potter, illustrated by Bryan Collier
2010 Author: Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal, written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Illustrator: My People, illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.
2009 Author: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson
Illustrator: The Blacker the Berry, by Floyd Cooper (published by Amistad)
2008 Author: Elijah of Buxton, Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic)
Illustrator: Let it Shine, illustrated and written by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
2007 Author: Copper Sun, by Sharon Draper
Illustrator: Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, by Kadir Nelson (Text: Carole Boston Weatherford)
2006 Author: Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue, by Julius Lester
Illustrator: Rosa, by Bryan Collier
2005 Author: Remember: The Journey to School Integration, by Toni Morrison
Illustrator: Ellington Was Not a Street, by Kadir A. Nelson
2004 Author: The First Past Last, by Angela Johnson
Illustrator: Beautiful Blackbird, by Ashley Bryan
2003 Author: Bronx Masquerade, by Nikki Grimes
Illustrator: Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, by E.B. Lewis
2002 Author: The Land, by Mildred Taylor
Illustrator: Goin' Someplace Special, by Jerry Pinkney; (Text: Patricia McKissack)
2001 Author: Miracle Boys, by Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator: Uptown, by Brian Collier
2000 Author: Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator: In the Time of the Drums, by Brian Pinkney (Text: Kim Siegelson)
1999 Author: Heaven, by Angela Johnson
Illustrator: I See the Rhythm, by Michelle Wood (Text: Toyomi Igus)
1998 Author: Forged by Fire, by Sharon M. Draper
Illustrator: In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, by Javaka Steptoe
1997 Author: Slam!, by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, by Jerry Pinkney (Text: Alan Schroeder)
1996 Author: Her Stories, by Virginia Hamilton
Illustrator: The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo, by Tom Feelings
1995 Author: Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters, by Patricia and Frederick McKissack
Illustrator: The Creation, by James Ransome (Text: James Weldon Johnson)
1994 Author: Toning the Sweep, by Angela Johnson
Illustrator: Soul Looks Back in Wonder, by Tom Feelings
1993 Author: The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, by Patricia McKissack
Illustrator: The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth, by Kathleen Atkins Wilson (Text: David A. Anderson)
1992 Author: Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom, by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Tar Beach, by Faith Ringgold
1991 Author: The Road to Memphis, by Mildred D. Taylor
Illustrator: Aida, by Leo and Diane Dillon (Text: Leontyne Price)
1990 Author: A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter, by Patricia and Frederick McKissack
Illustrator: Nathaniel Talking, by Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Text: Eloise Greenfield)
1989 Author: Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Mirandy and Brother Wind, by Jerry Pinkney (Text: Patricia McKissack)
1988 Author: The Friendship, by Mildred D. Taylor
Illustrator: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, by John Steptoe
1987 Author: Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, by Mildred Pitts Walter
Illustrator: Half a Moon and One Whole Star, by Jerry Pinkney (Text: Crecent Dragonwagon)
1986 Author: The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales, by Virginia Hamilton
Illustrator: The Patchwork Quilt, by Jerry Pinkney (Text: Valerie Flournoy)
1985 Author: Motown Didi, by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: No award given
1984 Author: Everett Anderson's Goodbye, by Lucille Clifton
Illustrator: My Mama Needs Me, by Pat Cummings (Text: Mildred Pitts Walter)
1983 Author: Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, by Virginia Hamilton
Illustrator: Black Child, by Peter Magubane
1982 Author: Let the Circle Be Unbroken, by Mildred D. Taylor
Illustrator: Mother Crocodile: An Uncle Amadou Tale From Senegal, by John Steptoe (Text adapted by Rosa Guy)
1981 Author: This Life, by Sidney Poitier
Illustrator: Beat The Story-Drum, Pum-Pum, by Ashley Bryan
1980 Author: The Young Landlords, by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Cornrows, by Carole Byard (Text: Camille Yarbrough)
1979 Author: Escape to Freedom: A Play about Young Frederick Douglass, by Ossie Davis
Illustrator: Something on My Mind, by Tom Feelings (Text: Nikki Grimes)
1978 Author: Africa Dream, by Eloise Greenfield
1977 Author: The Story of Stevie Wonder, by James Haskins
1976 Author: Duey's Tale, by Pearl Bailey
1975 Author: The Legend of Africania, by Dorothy Robinson
1974 Author: Ray Charles, by Sharon Bell Mathis
1973 Author: I Never Had It Made: The Autobiography of Jackie Robinson, by Jackie Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett
1972 Author: Seventeen Black Artists, by Elton C. Fax
1971 Author: Black Troubador, by Langston Hughes
1970 Author: Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace, by Lillie Patterson

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