The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement is named in memory of distinguished and beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton. The award is presented annually and in even years (i.e. 2012, 2014, 2016…) to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.

In alternate years (i.e. 2011, 2013, 2015…), the award honors 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-12 or any level therein, 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.

2010 Award

Walter Dean Myers is the winner of the first Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Myers has redefined the image of African American youth. He has garnered major youth literary awards: five Coretta Scott King Awards, four Coretta Scott King Honor Awards and the first Michael L. Printz Award. He is a two-time Newbery Honor medalist, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a two-time Jane Addams Children’s Book Award winner and a five-time Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor recipient. Myers received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for “lifetime contribution to young adult literature” in 1994, and was named the 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Lecturer.

Myers’s body of work is chiefly fiction and also includes biography, poetry, history and memoir. The community of Harlem and ongoing dialogues with today’s youth serve as his muse. He writes authentically in the voice of young people. He is best known for creating vivid, unflinching stories that speak candidly of the lives of teens. For four decades, his characters have wrestled with life-changing decisions (SCORPIONS), romance (AMIRI & ODETTE), family relationships (SOMEWHERE IN THE DARKNESS and MOTOWN AND DIDI) and friendships (MOJO AND THE RUSSIANS). While his stories often incorporate humor, music, sports and adventure, they also address challenging themes such as incarceration (MONSTER) and war (FALLEN ANGELS and SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH).

Myers resides in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his wife Constance and is the father of three adult children. He often collaborates with his son, illustrator Christopher Myers (HARLEM, JAZZ and LOOKING LIKE ME). Myers received his B.A. degree from Empire State College, State University of New York.