History of the Youth Media Awards: Part 2

Culture

Author:

By Steve Zalusky

The eyes of the publishing world will turn to Dallas at 7:45 a.m. CT on Jan.23, 2012, when the American Library Association (ALA) announces the top awards in children’s and young adult literature as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 20 - 24.

Known worldwide for the high quality they represent, the ALA Youth Media Awards are selected under a cloak of secrecy by national judging committees composed of librarians and other children’s literature experts.

This year, the ALA will announce 18 awards, including the renowned Caldecott and Newbery Medals, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards and Printz award. The books honored serve as a guide for parents, educators, librarians and those interested in providing children and teens with the very best reading and viewing materials.

For decades, the Youth Media Awards consisted of two awards, the Newbery and Caldecott.

But in the 1960s and 1970s, the awards began to branch out, paying increasing attention to the diverse landscape of children’s and young adult literature.

In 1970, the first Coretta Scott King Book Awards were presented in honor of African-American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults who have demonstrated sensitivity to "the African-American experience via literature and illustration."

Administered by the American Library Association's Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, the awards are designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor the late Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to work for peace and world brotherhood.

The awards have brought attention to such authors as Walter Dean Myers and author-illustrators as Kadir Nelson.

They have also guided readers, publishers and librarians to books that reflect the African-American experience, as well as those that highlight important achievements by African-Americans, including Billie Holiday and Muhammad Ali.

The first recipient was Lillie Patterson, author of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace. The first award to an illustrator was presented in 1974 to George Ford for Ray Charles, written by Sharon Bell Mathis, who also received the Coretta Scott King author award.

According to an article in Booklist Online by Andrea Davis Pinkney, to commemorate the award's 40th anniversary, "On what seemed like the hottest day ever during the New Jersey Library Association meeting in May 1970, 20 librarians bestowed the first Coretta Scott King Book Award."

The article credits the idea for the award to the late Glyndon Flynt Greer, a school librarian from Englewood, New Jersey. "The idea struck Greer and librarian Mabel McKissack in 1969 as they walked through the ALA Annual Conference convention hall and quickly noticed that no books by black authors or illustrators had been recognized for their excellence."

Over the years, the Coretta Scott King Book Award has itself branched out. They include the John Steptoe Awards for New Talent and the Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors author Virginia Hamilton (1936-2002), recipient of the 1974 National Book Award and the 1975 John Newbery Medal, paying tribute to the quality and magnitude of Virginia Hamilton’s exemplary contributions through her literature and advocacy for children and youth, especially in her focus on African-American life, history and consciousness.

A list of all of the 2011 ALA award winners is available in this press release.

A live webcast from the Dallas Convention Center will begin at 7:30 a.m. CST, Jan. 23. Virtual seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

We'll be announcing the award winners on Facebook and Twitter. You can also hook up with Youth Media Awards fans on their Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels.

Read The History of the Youth Media Awards Part 1.

2011 Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Author Award Winner

Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers). Eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters travel to Oakland, Calif. in 1968 to face the emotional challenge of reaching out to a distant mother and learn about a different side of the Civil Rights Movement. Themes of friendship, family and identity intertwine with broader social issues in this compelling historical novel.

Illustrator Award Winner

Bryan Collier, illustrator of Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, written by Laban Carrick Hill (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.). Dave, a slave in 19th century South Carolina, demonstrated extraordinary talent and skill to achieve creative success. At a time when it was illegal for slaves to read and write, the eloquent poetry on Dave’s remarkable pots provided inspiration and hope to those who had none.

Author Honor

ninth ward Walter Dean Myers, author of Lockdown (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers).

Jewell Parker Rhodes, author of Ninth Ward (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.).

yummy G. Neri, author of Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, illustrated by Randy DuBurke (Lee & Low Books, Inc.).

Illustrator Honor

jimi Javaka Steptoe, author of Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, written by Gary Golio (Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company).

John Steptoe Award for New Talent

Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon, authors of Zora and Me (Candlewick Press).

Sonia Lynn Sadler, illustrator of Seeds of Change, written by Jen Cullerton Johnson (Lee & Low Books, Inc.).

Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Henrietta M. Smith Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, professor emerita at the University of South Florida, Tampa, School of Library and Information Science.

What kind of books are eligible for the Coretta Scott King Award?
The CSK Book Award can be given to any African-American author or illustrator of an outstanding book for children in grades preschool-12. The book must be about the Black experience—past, present, or future—and must have been published in the preceding year, So, for example, the 2011 book winner has to have been published in 2010.

Are there always at least two CSK Book Awards in a given year?
Yes, there are always at least two awards, one for an author, the other for an illustrator. The committee can also award up to three Honor Books in a given year for both of these two categories. In addition, there is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award which can be awarded for text and or illustration.

The CSK Award was started over 40 years ago to promote the understanding and appreciation of African American people and their contribution to the American dream. But in an age of increased awareness of the value of multiculturalism is this award still necessary? Can’t other prizes, say the Newbery or Caldecott, cover the same territory?
Yes, they can cover the same territory, but if you look closely at the number of authors and illustrators of color who have received the Newbery and Caldecott Medals you can see that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to increase awareness about the value of multiculturalism.

Since the Newbery Medal was established in the 1920’s, only three black authors – Virginia Hamilton, Mildred Taylor, and Christopher Paul Curtis – have won this award. As for the Caldecott Medal which was established in the 1930’s, only two recipients have been African Americans: Leo Dillon (with his wife, Diane Dillon) and Jerry Pinkney. I strongly believe that the Coretta Scott King award is still necessary to promote the work of African American authors and illustrators.

Do the committee members meet in person?
Twice a year we do meet in person, at the ALA Annual Convention during the summer and at the Midwinter Meeting which takes place in January. We mostly just communicate with each other via email. It’s at the Midwinter Meeting that we make final decisions about the award-winners.

How are judges selected?
The committee is composed of seven members. The president of the CSK task force appoints the chair and three members.The task force members vote on the remaining three committee members.

Is there anything special you’d like to tell BTM readers about this year’s award winners, One Crazy Summer or Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave?

Both titles provide information about topics that are seldom addressed such as the positive things that Black Panthers did and the story of an unsung potter who was a slave. The writing and the illustrations in these two books are stellar and we were affirmed in our beliefs since both the Newbery and Caldecott committees selected these two titles as honor books.