Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this award recognizes outstanding African American authors and illustrators. Click on a title, author, or illustrator name for more information and free teaching resources.

Award Winners by Year

2012
Author: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Illustrator: Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom written and illustrated by Shane W. Evans

2011
Author: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Illustrator: Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave illustrated by Bryan Collier
     
2010
Author: Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Illustrator: My People illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.; text by Langston Hughes

2009
Author: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Illustrator: The Blacker the Berry illustrated by Floyd Cooper

2008
Author: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator: Let it Shine written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan

2007
Author: Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
Illustrator: Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom illustrated by Kadir Nelson; text by Carole Boston Weatherford
 
2006
Author: Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue by Julius Lester
Illustrator: Rosa illustrated by Bryan Collier; text by Nikki Giovanni

2005 
Author: Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison
Illustrator: Ellington Was Not a Street illustrated by Kadir Nelson; text by Ntozake Shange
  
2004 
Author: The First Part 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, illustrated by E.B. Lewis; text by Nikki Grimes
     
2002 
Author: The Land by Mildred Taylor
Illustrator: Goin' Someplace Special, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by Patricia C. McKissack
     
2001 
Author: Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator: Uptown by Bryan Collier
     
2000 
Author: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Illustrator: In the Time of the Drums, illustrated by Brian Pinkney; text by Kim L. Siegelson
  
1999 
Author: Heaven by Angela Johnson
Illustrator: i see the rhythm, illustrated by Michele Wood; text by Toyomi Igus
 
1998 
Author: Forged by Fire by Sharon M. Draper
llustrator: In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe; text by Alan Schroeder
  
1997 
Author: Slam! by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text by 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 C. McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack
Illustrator: The Creation, illustrated by James Ransome; text by James Weldon Johnson
  
1994 
Author: Toning the Sweep by Angela Johnson
Illustrator: Soul Looks Back in Wonder, illustrated by Tom Feelings; text edited by Phyllis Fogelman
  
1993 
Author: Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia C. McKissack
Illustrator: The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth, illustrated by Kathleen Atkins Wilson; retold by 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, illustrated by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon; text by Leontyne Price
 
1990 
Author: A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter by Patricia C. McKissack & Frederick L. McKissack
Illustrator: Nathaniel Talking, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist; text by Eloise Greenfield