NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Children

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the children's literature category.

Winners and finalists

1990s

Award winners and finalists, 1996, 1999

Year	Book	Author	Illustrator	Result	Ref.
1996	Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales and True Tales	Virginia Hamilton	Leo and Diane Dillon	Winner	[1]
1999	Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freeman of Color	Patricia McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack Jr.	James E. Ransome	Winner	[2][better source needed]

2000s

Award winners and finalists, 2000-2009^[3]

Year	Book	Author	Illustrator	Result	Ref.
2000	If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks	Faith Ringgold		Winner
	God Inside of Me	Della Reese	Vyonne Buchanan	Finalist
	Happy to Be Nappy	bell hooks	Christopher Raschka
	The Day I Was Rich	Bill Cosby	Varnette P. Honeywood
	Through My Eyes	Ruby Bridges
2001	Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children	Sandra Pinkney	Myles C. Pinkney (photos)	Winner
	Dancing in the Wings	Debbie Allen	Kadir Nelson	Finalist
	Nikki Giovanni: Poet of the People	Judith Pinkerton Josephson
	Teens Can Make It Happen	Stedman Graham
	The Sound That Jazz Makes	Carole Boston Weatherford	Eric Velásquez
2002	Just the Two of Us	Will Smith	Kadir Nelson	Winner	[4][better source needed]
2003	Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales	Nelson Mandela		Winner	[5][better source needed]
2004	My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.	Christine King Farris	Chris K. Soentpiet	Winner
	The Montgomery Bus Boycott (Events that Shaped America)	Sabrina Crewe and Frank Walsh		Finalist
	God Created	Mark Bozzuti-Jones	Jui Ishida
	Li'l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story	Romare Bearden
	Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper?	Toni and Slade Morrison	Pascal Lemaître
2005	The 1963 Civil Rights March	Sabrina Crewe		Winner
	African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women	Joyce Hanson	Laurie McGaw	Finalist
	Ellington Was Not a Street	Ntozake Shange	Kadir Nelson
	Langston's Train Ride	Robert Burleigh	Leonard Jenkins
	Maya's World: Angelina of Italy	Maya Angelou	Lizzy Rockwell
2006	Girls Hold Up This World	Jada Pinkett Smith	Donyell Kennedy-Mccullough (photos)	Winner
	I Can Make a Difference	Marian Wright Edelman	Barry Moser	Finalist
	The School Is Not White! A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement	Doreen Rappaport	Curtis James
	Honey Baby Sugar Child	Alice Faye Duncan	Susan Keeter
	Please, Puppy, Please	Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee	Kadir Nelson
2007	Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom	Carole Boston Weatherford	Kadir Nelson	Winner	[6]
	Dear Mr. Rosenwald	Carole Boston Weatherford	R. Gregory Christie	Finalist	[6][7]
	I Like You But I Love Me	Common	Lorraine West
	Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round	Doreen Rappaport	Shane W. Evans
	Whoopi's Big Book of Manners	Whoopi Goldberg	Olo
2008	Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson	Sue Stauffacher	Greg Couch	Winner	[8]
	Friendship for Today	Patricia McKissack		Finalist	[9]
	Elijah of Buxton	Christopher Paul Curtis
	Let It Shine	Ashley Bryan
	Young Pele	Lesa Cline-Ransome	James E. Ransome
2009	Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope	Nikki Grimes	Bryan Collier	Winner
	Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem	Maya Angelou		Finalist	[10]
	Say a Little Prayer	Dionne Warwick, David Freeman Wooley, and Tonya Bolden
	We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball	Kadir Nelson
	You Can Do It!	Tony Dungy	Amy June Bates

2010s

Award winners and finalists, 2010-2019^[3]

Year	Book	Author	Illustrator	Result	Ref.
2010	Our Children Can Soar	Michelle Cook		Winner	[11]
	The Negro Speaks of Rivers	Langston Hughes	E. B. Lewis	Finalist	[12]
	Peeny Butter Fudge	Toni and Slade Morrison	Joe Cepeda
	Sugar Plum Ballerinas: Toeshoe Trouble	Whoopi Goldberg	Maryn Roos
	Child of the Civil Rights Movement	Paula Young Shelton and Raul Colon
2011	My Brother Charlie	Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete	Shane Evans	Winner	[13]
	Grandma’s Gift	Eric Velásquez	Eric Velásquez	Finalist
	Mama Miti: Wangai Maathai and the Tree of Kenya	Donna Jo Napoli	Kadir Nelson
	Side by Side/Lado a Lado: The Story of Delores Huerta and Cesar Chavez	Monica Brown	Joe Cepeda
	The Great Migration: Journey to the North	Eloise Greenfield	Jan Spivey Gilchrist
2012	You Can Be a Friend	Tony and Lauren Dungy		Winner	[14]
	Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band	Kwame Alexander	Tim Bowers	Finalist	[14]
	Before There Was Mozart	Lesa Cline-Ransome	James E. Ransome
	Heart and Soul	Kadir Nelson
	White Water	Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein	Shadra Strickland
2013	What Color is My World	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with Raymond Obstfeld	A. G. Ford and Ben Boos	Winner	[15]
	Fifty Cents and a Dream	Jabari Asim	Bryan Collier	Finalist	[15]
	Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills	Renée Watson	Christian Robinson
	In the Land of Milk and Honey	Joyce Carol Thomas	Floyd Cooper
	Indigo Blume and the Garden City	Kwame Alexander	JahSun Mitchell
2014	Nelson Mandela	Kadir Nelson		Winner	[16]
	I'm A Pretty Little Black Girl!	Betty K. Bynum	Claire Armstrong Parod	Finalist	[16]
	Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me	Daniel Beaty	Bryan Collier
	Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song	Andrea Davis Pinkney	Brian Pinkney
	You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!	Jonah Winter	Terry Widener
2015	Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After	Rachel Renée Russell		Winner	[17]
	Beautiful Moon: A Child's Prayer	Tonya Bolden	Eric Velásquez	Finalist	[17]
	Little Melba and Her Big Trombone	Katheryn Russell-Brown	Frank Morrison
	Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up To Become Malcolm X	Ilyasah Shabazz	A. G. Ford
	Searching for Sarah Rector	Tonya Bolden
2016	Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America	Carole Boston Weatherford	Jamey Christoph	Winner	[18][19]
	Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, Inspired by Historical Facts	Nikki Grimes	Michele Wood	Finalist	[18]
	Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box	Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein	James E. Ransome
	If You Plant a Seed	Kadir Nelson
	New Shoes	Susan Lynn Meyer	Eric Velásquez
2017	Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas	Gwendolyn Hooks	Colin Bootman	Winner	[20]
	A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of the Snowy Day	Andrea Davis Pinkney	Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher	Finalist	[20]
	Daddy’s Little Girl	Karissa Culbreath
	Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat	Javaka Steptoe
	The Golden Girls of Rio	Nikkolas Smith	Nikkolas Smith
2018	Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History	Vashti Harrison		Winner	[21]
	Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with Raymond Obstfeld		Finalist	[21]
	Before She Was Harriet	Lesa Cline-Ransome	James E. Ransome
	Take a Picture of Me, James VanDerZee!	Andrea J. Loney	Keith Mallett
	The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights Activist	Cynthia Levinson	Vanessa Brantley-Newton
2019	Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race	Margot Lee Shetterly	Laura Freeman	Winner	[22]
	Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, A Monumental American Man	Tonya Bolden		Finalist	[22]
	I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can't	Diane Dillon
	The 5 O'Clock Band	Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews	Bryan Collier
	The Word Collector	Peter H. Reynolds

2020s

Award winners and finalists, 2020-present^[3]

Year	Book	Author	Illustrator	Result	Ref.
2020	Sulwe	Lupita Nyong'o	Vashti Harrison	Winner	[23]
	A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation	Barry Wittenstein	Jerry Pinkney	Finalist	[23]
	Hair Love	Matthew A. Cherry	Vashti Harrison
	Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment	Parker Curry and Jessica Curry	Brittany Jackson
	Ruby Finds a Worry	Tom Percival
2021	She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm	Katheryn Russell-Brown	Eric Velásquez	Winner	[24][25]
	I Promise	LeBron James	Nina Mata	Finalist	[24][26]
	Just Like a Mama	Alice Faye Duncan	Charnelle Pinkney Barlow
	Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice	Nikki Grimes	Laura Freeman
	The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver	Gene Barretta	Frank Morrison
2022	Stacey’s Extraordinary Words	Stacey Abrams	Kitt Thomas	Winner	[27][28][29]
	Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy	Misty Copeland	Salena Barnes	Finalist	[30]
	Change Sings	Amanda Gorman	Loren Long
	Time for Bed, Old House	Janet Costa Bates	A. G. Ford
	When Langston Dances	Kaija Langley	Keith Mallett
2023	Stacey’s Remarkable Books	Stacey Abrams	Kitt Thomas	Winner	[31][32]
	Black Gold	Laura Obuobi	London Ladd	Finalist	[33]
	Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas	Jeanne Walker Harvey	Loveis Wise
	The Year We Learned to Fly	Jacqueline Woodson	Rafael López
	Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky	Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond	Daniel Minter
2024	Crowned: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora	Kahran and Regis Bethencourt	Rafael López	Winner	[34]
	How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee	Carole Boston Weatherford	Frank Morrison	Finalist	[35]
	I Absolutely, Positively Love My Spots	Lid’ya C. Rivera	Nina Mata
	Is This Love?	Cedella Marley	Alea Marley
	Like Lava In My Veins	Derrick Barnes	Shawn Martinbrough

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Outstanding Literary Work, Children's Awards: Wins Author 2 Carole Boston Weatherford 2 Vashti Harrison

The following individuals received two or more Outstanding Literary Work, Children's nominations: Nominations Author 4 Kadir Nelson Carole Boston Weatherford 3 Nikki Grimes Vashti Harrison 2 Kwame Alexander Maya Angelou Michael S. Bandy Tonya Bolden Alice Faye Duncan Tony Dungy Whoopi Goldberg Patricia McKissack Andrea Davis Pinkney Lesa Cline-Ransome Doreen Rappaport Katheryn Russell-Brown