The Crystal Apple is given at the discretion of the AASL President to an individual or group who has had significant impact on school libraries and students.
Past Honorees
| Year | AASL President | Honoree(s) |
| 2019 | Kathryn Roots Lewis | Marina "Marney" Welmers OverDrive Education |
| 2018 | Steven Yates | Denine Toor |
| 2017 | Audrey Church | Emily Sheketoff |
| 2016 | Leslie Preddy | James Patterson |
| 2015 | Terri Grief | Bob Sibert, Bound to Stay Bound Books |
| 2014 | Gail Dickinson | Marlene Woo-Lun |
| 2013 | Susan Ballard | Dollar General |
| 2012 | Carl Harvey | Senator Jack Reed (R.I.) |
| 2011 | Nancy Everhart | Dolly Parton and the Imagination Library |
| 2010 | Cassandra Barnett | Ohio Governor Ted Strickland |
| 2009 | Ann M. Martin | Target |
| 2008 | Sara Kelly Johns | The Spokane Moms: Denette Hill, Lisa Layera-Brunkan, Susan McBurney |
| 2007 | Cyndi Phillip | Scholastic Library Publishing |
| 2006 | J. Linda Williams | First Lady Laura Bush Gary Hartzell |
| 2005 | Dawn P. Vaughn | Follett Library Resources |
| 2004 | Frances R. Roscello | Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. |
| 2003 | Nancy P. Zimmerman | Rachel Hodges, former First Lady of South Carolina, and Scholastic, Inc. |
| 2002 | Helen Adams | Senator Ralph Regula |
| 2001 | Harriet Selverstone | 3M Library Systems |
| 2000 | Ellen Jay | Betty Marcoux |
| 1999 | Sharon Coatney | Delaine Eastin, State Superintendent of Schools, CA |
| 1998 | Ken Haycock | Lillian Gerhardt, Retiring Editor, School Library Journal |
| 1997 | Barbara Stripling | DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund |
| 1996 | David Loertscher | Elliot & Eleanor Goldstein, SIRS Ann Carlson Weeks |
| 1995 | Jacqueline Mancall | Dr. Judith M. Pitts (posthumously) |
| 1994 | E. Blanche Woolls | Senator Paul Simon, IL Congressman Jack Reed, RI |
| 1993 | Ruth Toor | Charles Follett, Jr., Follett Software Company |