John Steptoe New Talent Award


John Steptoe seal image (watermarked)

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.

Submit a title.

Award Winners

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)

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Winner, Honor, and John Steptoe Award for New Talent seals are property of the American Library Association and cannot be used in any form or reproduced without the permission of the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions.