Category Archives: About Us

About Us, CSK Award History, CSK Award Winners, Past Events and Important People

CSK By the Numbers

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As the Coretta Scott King Book Awards enter the second half of their first century, the John Steptoe Award for New Talent is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, and the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement is celebrating ten years. This seems like a natural time to review the history of the awards. 

Even though the Steptoe award is twenty-five years old, it has only been awarded to seventeen authors and twelve illustrators. There were six years (2013, 2012, 2001, 2000, 1998, and 1996) that no one received the award – neither author or illustrator – and another seven years that no one received the illustrator award.

Of the twenty-nine Steptoe winners, seven have gone on to win additional CSK awards. That’s twenty-four percent. Five for writing (Hope Anita Smith, Jason Reynolds, Kekla Magoon, Sharon Draper, and Sharon Flake) and two for illustration (Ekua Holmes and Frank Morrison). 


Image Sources: Hope Anita Smith/MacMillian Publishers; Jason Reynolds/SLJ; Kekla Magoon: Author’s Website; Sharon Draper/Author’s Website; Ekua Holmes/Author’s Website; Frank Morrison/Harper Collins Publishers

Walter Dean Meyers has won the most CSK Author Awards with five. Three people are tied with the most CSK Author Honors: Walter Dean Myers, Virginia Hamilton, and James Haskins. All of these writers have won six CSK Honors.

Bryan Collier has won the most CSK Illustrator Awards with six. Ashley Bryan has the most CSK Illustrator Honors with seven.

Nineteen people have won at least five times. Ashley Bryan has been recognized the most with a total of thirteen times, while Walter Dean Meyers comes in a close second with twelve wins. In fact, fifty authors or illustrators (or thirty-one percent) of the total number of CSK winners have multiple awards/honors. Patricia McKissack has actually garnered ten CSK Awards or Honors. Eight of them were co-awarded with her husband Fredrick and displayed on the chart below. The other two were awarded to her as an individual writer and not reflected below. This makes her the most recognized female in CSK history with a total of ten CSK Awards or Honors.



Image Credit: Ashley Bryan/Emma Lee; Patricia and Frederick McKissack/The St. Louis American; Walter Dean Myers/Constance Myers

The CSK Awards jury handbook specifies that zero to three CSK Honors may be given for author and illustrator. However, this rule must have started after 1984, since prior to this year as many as eight author honors had been awarded in a single year.  When considering the most common number of honors given out, it turns out that three recognitions is the most common for CSK Author Honors. On nineteen occasions, three CSK Author Honors were given out. On the other hand, two is the most common for CSK Illustrator Honors. On seventeen occasions, two illustrator honors were given out compared to only eleven occasions when three honors were. Of course, each committee is its own entity and can recognize however many titles up to three titles during one award year.

Other interesting facts include the following:

  • Every time Rita Williams-Garcia won the author award Bryan Collier won the illustrator award (2011, 2014, and 2016).

  • R. Gregory Christie has received six CSK Illustrator Honors, but has not yet won the CSK Illustrator Award.

  • Kadir Nelson and Ashley Bryan are the only people who have received recognition as  both author and illustrator. In 2009, Kadir Nelson won the CSK Author Award and a CSK Illustrator Honor for We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. In 1987, Ashley Bryan won a CSK Illustrator Honor and a CSK Author Honor for Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales.

  • The most CSK Honors given out in one year is eight. That was in 1971, the second year of the award and before the CSK Illustrator Award was even started.

  • Four times (1970, 1972, 1973, and 1975) no CSK Author Honors were awarded.

  • Ten times no CSK Illustrator Honors were named, the most recent being in 1991.

  • In 1975, no CSK Author or CSK Illustrator Honors were awarded.

  • 1974 was the first year for the  CSK Illustrator award to be given out.

  • Three people have won two awards in the same year for different books. In 2016, Jason Reynolds won honors for different books (All American Boys and The Boy in the Black Suit) In 1980, James Haskins won honors for Andrew Young: Young Man with a Mission and James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin’ Man. In 1995,  Patricia C. & Fredrick L. McKissack won the award for Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters and an honor for Black Diamond: Story of the Negro Baseball League.

  • A total of 338 awards have been given out to 163 individuals.

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Keary Bramwell is a member of the CSK Technology Committee and children’s librarian in the Chicago suburbs.


About Us, CSK 50th Anniversary, CSK Award History, Past Events and Important People, Personal Reflections

Time to Pass the Gavel: Coretta Scott King Book Awards Chair Dr. McLinn’s Message to the CSK Community at ALA Annual

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Dr. Claudette McLinn

It is with a great sense of gratitude and satisfaction that I write my final message as Chair of Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee/Community during the 50thAnniversary of the CSK Book Awards founding. 

As of June 26, 2019, the end of the Annual Conference, my esteemed colleague Alan Bailey will assume the role of Chair, and I cannot think of anyone more qualified and prepared to serve as your 2019-2021 Chair. Indeed, all the CSK Executive Board members with whom I’ve had the pleasure to serve, as well as the incoming members, are eminently qualified to help lead the committee into the future. My thanks and best wishes also go out to those CSK Standing Committee members and CSK 50thAnniversary Planning Committee members whose terms will be completed at the end of this month and who have served with diligence, enthusiasm, and commitment. 

As I transition to the role of Immediate Past-Chair, I am truly humbled and honored to join such an outstanding group of individuals who have served CSK in this role. As I look back over the past two years, I am immensely proud of all that our committee has accomplished during that time, especially during the CSK 50thAnniversary celebration. 

For now, suffice it is to say that our CSK committee members, ODLOS staff, ALA supporters and leaders have done an outstanding job of moving the committee forward despite numerous challenges. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Finally, I would simply like to say “Thank you!” to every CSK Committee member for allowing me the privilege of serving as your Chair over this past two years. It is an experience I will never forget and which I will treasure for the rest of my life. You, the members, are the reason our committee exists and the reason why we as leaders do what we do. I hope you will keep fighting the good fight and never forget that your skills are crucial to the safety, health, and well-being of countless librarians, library workers, authors and illustrators, parents, and students across this country. That is something we can ALL be proud of! 

Thank you, and onward and upward! 

Dr. Claudette S. McLinn   Chair, Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, 2017 – 2019 Chair, Coretta Scott King Book Awards 50thAnniversary Planning Committee, 2016 – 2019 #CSK50

This is the message delivered by Dr. Claudette McLinn, outgoing Chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, at the 2019 ALA Annual’s CSK Membership Meeting on June 26.

About Us, CSK 50th Anniversary

The Man Behind the Coretta Scott King Award Seal: Lev T. Mills

Have you ever wondered about the CSK seal? Who designed it and what do all those symbols mean? For an insight into the seal’s design and the artistic journey of Lev Mills, visit the 50th anniversary website.  You can hear from Lev Mills, and it will be an inspiring educational experience.

Carolyn Garnes is CSK Marketing chair and past CSK Task Force chair, 1993-1997.

About Us, CSK 50th Anniversary

Announcing a New CSK Blog Series: CSK-Winning Books Through the Decades, Observations and Reflections

In celebration of fifty years, the CSK Marketing Committee will present a special series of blog posts entitled “CSK Winning Books through the Decades: Observations and Reflections.” Each CSK Marketing Committee member will reveal his or her unique prospective on a specific decade.  The 1970s were the formative years for the award as new African American writers emerged.  In the 1980s, the CSK Book Awards became an official ALA award as African American literature evolved and transformed the landscape of children’s literature.  The 1990s revealed  that the very existence of the Award provided opportunities to be published and recognized for African American authors and illustrators where none existed in the past. The 2000s saw the award raise the level of expectations for editors and creators of children’s literature, becoming a goal to aspire to for African American writers and illustrators.  Now, in the 2010s, the award has succeeded as one of ALA’s most prestigious honors.  Stay tuned to the CSK Blog for more illuminating facts about the CSK Book Awards through the decades!

Carolyn Garnes is the Chair of the CSK Marketing Committee.

About Us

Mock CSK Book Award Groups

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With school back in session and the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements less than five months away, mock award groups are forming, or, if formed already, they are beginning to hone in on nominations, just like the actual committees.

I spoke with Sierra McKenzie, Library Services Floater at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH), a member of the newly formed PLCH Mock Coretta Scott King Book Awards group and keeper of that group’s suggestion spreadsheet.

This is the first year of the PLCH Mock CSK Book Awards group. It’s Sierra’s first experience with a mock group, and she reports that some members have commented on the increase in the amount of reading for this mock group versus others because they are selecting books for two categories, author and illustrator. Right now, members are reading everything that qualifies, focusing on titles with high reviews from other group members, and adding comments to a closed Goodreads list.

The group has completed two rounds of author and illustrator suggestions. In September, a selection meeting will occur when they narrow down the list of suggestions for a shorter list for “author” and “illustrator” category discussions.

Mock CSK Book Awards groups add awareness and enthusiasm for current and eligible titles for the CSK Book Awards. If your public, academic, or school library has a Mock CSK Book Awards group in place, please share this in the comments section. And if not, please consider starting one!

Thanks to Dr. Claudette McLinn, Alan Bailey, and Amber Hayes, the CSK Book Awards Jury Handbook has been updated (format and pagination) and is available for Mock CSK Book Awards groups and Mock CSK Book Awards elections through a link on the CSK Book Awards Committee website.

Susan Polos works as a school librarian at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY.  She is chair of the CSK Book Awards Technology Committee.

About Us

Our Mission

The mission of the Coretta Scott King Book Award Committee Blog is to highlight Coretta Scott King award winning books and authors. We seek to connect CSK winners to young people in the classroom and beyond through the work of librarians.

To learn more about CSK, please visit www.ala.org/csk.

For a printable list of all the CSK winners to date, with a thumbnail image of each book cover, please visit https://aalbc.com/books/csk-list.php.