John Steptoe New Talent Award
Purpose
The 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 Task Force.
Criteria
The criteria for eligibility will be 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 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
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)
