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The John Steptoe New Talent Award is established to affirm new talent and to offer visibility to excellence in writing and/or illustration which otherwise might be formally unacknowledged within a given year within the structure of the two awards given annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee.
Criteria
The criteria for eligibility is the same as those for the writing and illustration awards, with the exception that the winner(s)' published works cannot exceed three in number. An author or illustrator who has already received or has just been selected to win one of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards in the current year is not eligible for the John Steptoe Award for New Talent. An author may receive this award one time.
One award will be presented annually for text or illustrations. The Committee may choose to select one book for writing and a second book for illustration. The award need not be given if the committee so decides in a particular year.
Award Winners
2024
Jade Adia, author of There Goes the Neighborhood, (Hyperion, an imprint of Buena Vista Books, Inc.)
Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, illustrator of We Could Fly (Candlewick Press)
2023
Jas Hammonds, author of We Deserve Monuments, (Roaring Brook Press, a division of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group)
Janelle Washington, illustrator of Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement (Roaring Brook Press, a division of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group)
2022
Amber McBride, author of Me (Moth) (Feiwell and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group)
Regis and Kahran Bethencourt, illustrators of The Me I Choose to Be (Little, Brown, and Company)
2021
Tracy Deonn, author of Legendborn (Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)
No illustrator award presented
2020
Alicia D. Williams, author of Genesis Begins Again (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)
April Harrison, illustrator of What is Given from the Heart (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.)
2019
Tiffany D. Jackson, author of Monday's Not Coming (Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Oge Mora, illustrator of Thank You, Omu (Little, Brown Young Readers)
2018
David Barclay Moore, author of The Stars Beneath Our Feet (Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.)
Charly Palmer, illustrator of Mama Africa! How Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song (Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.)
2017
Nicola Yoon, author of The Sun Is Also a Star (Delacorte Press, and imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC)
2016
Ronald L. Smith, author of Hoodoo (Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Ekua Holms, illustrator of Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement (Candlewick Press).
2015
Jason Reynolds, author of When I Was the Greatest (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division).
2014
Theodore Taylor III, illustrator of When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop, written by Lagan Carrick Hill (Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings, Ltd.
2013
No award presented.
2012
No award presented.
2011
Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon, authors of Zora and Me (Candlewick Press).
2010
Kekla Magoon, author of The Rock and the River (Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)
2009
Shadra Strickland, author of Bird (Lee & Low Books)
2008
Sundee T. Frazier, author of Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It (Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books)
2007
Traci L. Jones, author of Standing Against the Wind (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
2006
Jaime Adoff, author of Jimi & Me (Jump at the Sun, an imprint of Hyperion Books for Children)
2005
Barbara Hathaway, author of Missy Violet and Me (Houghton Mifflin)
Frank Morrison, illustrator of Jazzy Miz Mozetta, written by Brenda C. Roberts (Farrar Straus Giroux)
2004
Hope Anita Smith, author of The Way a Door Closes, illustrated by Shane W. Evans (Henry Holt)
Elbrite Brown, illustrator of My Family Plays Music, written by Judy Cox (Holiday House)
2003
Janet McDonald, author of Chill Wind (Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Randy DuBurke, illustrator and author of The Moon Ring (Chronicle Books)
2002
Jerome Lagarrigue, illustrator of Freedom Summer, written by Deborah Wiles (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
2001
No award presented.
2000
No award presented.
1999
Sharon Flake, author of The Skin I'm In (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion)
Eric Velasquez, illustrator of The Piano Man, written by Debbie Chocolate (Walker Books for Young Readers)
1998
No award presented.
1997
Martha Southgate, author of Another Way to Dance (Delacorte)
1996
No award presented.
1995
Sharon Draper, author of Tears of a Tiger (Simon & Schuster)