The award is established to affirm new talent and to offer visibility to excellence in writing and/or illustration, from 1999 to the present.

Book cover of We could fly
2024

We Could Fly

by Giddens, Rhiannon
Call Number: xz folio
Book cover for The Me I Choose to Be
2022

The Me I Choose to Be

by Tarpley, Natasha
Call Number: xz
Book cover for What is Given From the Heart
2020

What is Given From the Heart

by McKissack, Pat
Call Number: xz
Book cover for Thank You, Omu!
2019

Thank You, Omu!

by Mora, Oge
Call Number: xz
Book cover for Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope With Her Song
2018

Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope With Her Song

by Erskine, Kathryn,
Call Number: x 92 M235Er
Book cover for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
2016

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

by Weatherford, Carole Boston
Call Number: x 811 W362-4
Grades 3-5.
Free-verse poems and stunning illustrations combine to tell the story of a woman who came from humble beginnings and endured much – ultimately emerging as a national hero and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.
Book cover for When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
2014

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop

by Hill, Laban Carrick
Call Number: x 92 K82Hi

Grades 1 - 4: From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.

Book cover for Jazzy Miz Mozetta
2005

Jazzy Miz Mozetta

by Roberts, Brenda C.
Call Number: xz
Book cover for My Family Plays Music
2004

My Family Plays Music

by Cox, Judy.
Call Number: xz
Book cover for The Moon Ring
2003

The Moon Ring

by DuBurke, Randy.
Call Number: xz
Book cover for Freedom Summer
2002

Freedom Summer

by Wiles, Deborah.
Call Number: xz
Book cover for The Piano Man
1999

The Piano Man

by Chocolate, Deborah M. Newton.
Call Number: xz