Carolyn L. Garnes 2025 recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement

PHOENIX — Carolyn L. Garnes is the recipient of the 2025 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award was announced today during the American Library Association’s LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience held January 24 – 27 in Phoenix.

“Garnes was instrumental in taking the CSK Books Awards Task Force from an independent entity to being a part of ALA. Because of her work, CSKBART celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2024,” said Award Committee Chair Dr. Emma K. McNamara.

Garnes has spent over 30 years as a practitioner championing books for Black children as a public and school library director and as the founder of the nonprofit Aunt Lil’s Reading Room. She has worked to ensure that librarianship is a welcoming space for people regardless of their race and class.

The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement is named in memory of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton. The annual award is presented in odd years (i.e., 2025, 2027, 2029) to a practitioner for substantial contributions through active engagement with youth using award-winning African American literature for children and/or young adults, via implementation of reading and reading-related activities/programs. The recipient may be a public librarian, academic librarian, school librarian (public or private), an educator (pre-K to 12th grade or higher education) or youth literature advocate whose vocation, work, volunteer service or ongoing promotion of books with and/or on behalf of youth is significant and sustained.

In even years (i.e., 2024, 2026, 2028), the award is presented to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults, and who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.

Virginia Hamilton was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote more than 35 books throughout her career, including “M. C. Higgins, the Great,” for which she won the 1975 Newbery Medal. During her lifetime, Hamilton received numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King Book Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Atlanta Globe-Horn Book Award, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Members of the 2025 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Committee are Chair Emma K. McNamara, PhD, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Pauletta Brown Bracy, North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina; Rose T. Dawson, Alexandria Library, Washington, D.C.; Chrystal Carr Jeter, retired Children’s Literature Consultant, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, Eastlake, Ohio; and Idella Augustine Washington, Retired School Librarian, Harvey, Louisiana.

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the only non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to America's libraries and library professionals. For almost 150 years, ALA has provided resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. The ALA serves academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library's role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org

For more information on the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.

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