The American Library Association’s annual conference draws thousands of people from around the globe for intensive professional connection and learning. Among the highlights for many attendees are the Youth Media Awards celebrations, which share a sense of jubilation over the rich literary offerings available to young people. The ALA Youth Media Awards are the U.S.’s most widely recognized honors for children’s and teen literature; their seals grace book covers, guiding readers.

But so much happens in the world of these awards beyond the annual selection of exceptional titles. This year marks the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards , a distinction that commemorates “the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.” Numerous CSKBART committees engage with these core principles in different ways throughout the year; I’ve been fortunate to serve on several of them during my tenure on CSKBART. For example, each year the CSKBART Donation Grant sends books to agencies and institutions serving young people around the U.S. and as far afield as Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa. In addition, the award-winning books and their creators offer springboards for rich programming.

Ida W. Thompson, former book award jury member and former chair of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement jury, received a commendation from the American Association of School Librarians for establishing the Reading Rocks program in Columbia, South Carolina. Free books, school visits, and teacher workshops by CSK Award–winning authors and illustrators fueled “interest in reading, art, and storytelling and connected the community through wholesome literary experiences.”

Barbara Clark, chair of the Coretta Scott King Archives and History Committee, shared a pivotal memory from her elementary school librarian days in Birmingham, Michigan. She was inspired by Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack, a joyful story about a girl who’s entering her first cakewalk, for which Jerry Pinkney won the 1989 Coretta Scott KingIllustrator Award. Clark’s Black History Month project “garnered district-level participation and huge teacher and parent support,” she says. “This celebration gently submerged my predominately white school community into a dark period of history for African Americans. We strolled through early 1900s America from the founding of the NAACP and the Ford Motor Company to lynchings recorded by Ida B. Wells and much more. A teacher made me a Brother Wind puppet that glided as I circled and told McKissack’s story. We researched and studied photos, and each class choreographed a four-minute cakewalk. What fun we had.”

I leave you with the words of Claudette S. McLinn, former CSKBART chair, executive director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature, and recipient of the 2023 CSK–VHALA who cherishes her memories of working on the “50th anniversary celebration during ALA Annual 2019 in Washington, D.C., where people of all ages and colors gathered at the gala at the Library of Congress.” Librarians may currently face struggles, but as Dr. McLinn says, “may the spirit of CSK continue.”

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.