In 1991, the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association accepted a proposal from Africa Access to establish awards
honoring outstanding books on Africa published or republished in the United States. The first Children’s Africana Book Awards were presented in 1992. Annually since that time awards are presented to authors and illustrators in two categories, Young Children and Older Readers. Click here for Past Winners for Young Children.
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Winner 2014 | Winner 2014 | Winner 2013 | Winner 2013 |
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Winner 2012
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Winner 2010
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Winner 2008
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Winner 2007
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Winner 2006
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Winner 2005 |
Winner 2004
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Winner 2003 |
Past Honor Books for Older Readers
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Winner 2001 |
Winner 1999 |
Winner 1998 |
Winner 1996 |
Winner 1995 |
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Honor 2012
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Honor 2010
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Honor 2010 |
Honor 2008
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Honor 2008
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Honor 2006
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Honor 2006
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Honor 2006
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Honor 2005
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Honor 2005
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Honor 2004
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Honor 1999
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Honor 1995
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Honor 1995
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Honor 1992
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Past Best Books for Older Readers
Africa is My Home by Monica Edinger and illustrated by Robert Byrd. (Candlewick Press, 2013)
Once Upon a Time in Ghana : Traditional Ewe stories retold in English. Accra by edited by Anna Cottrell, translated by Kumassah Agbotadua and illustrated by Kwabena Poku. Afram / African Books Collective (dist.), 2013
Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History by Trevor Getz (Oxford University Press, 2012)
Far From Home by Na’ima Robert (Frances Lincoln, 2012)
Stones for My Father by Trilby Kent (Tundra, 2011)
Nelson Mandela : The Authorized Comic Book by Nelson Mandela Foundation; Umlando Wezithombe (illus.) (Norton, 2009)
Aya. by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie (Drawn & Quarterly / Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2007)
Illustrator’s Notenook by Mohieddine Ellabbad. (Groundwood Books, 2006)
Mzungu Boy written by Meja Mwangi (Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 2005)
Chanda’s Secrets written by Allan Stratton (Annick Press, 2004)
Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict & Hope written by Beverley Naidoo (HarperCollins 2003)
Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students by John Middleton (Ed.) (Charles Scribner’s Sons of Gale Group 2002)
Kings and Queens of West Africa by Sylviane Diouf (Franklin Watts, 2000).
Why Leopard Has Spots: Dan Stories from Liberia by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert (Fulcrum Kids, 1998).
No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo (HarperCollins, 1997).
Middle Passage written and illustrated by Tom Feelings (Dial, 1995).
The Captive by Joyce Hansen (Scholastic, 1994).
Past Honor Books for Older Readers
Street Level: A Collection of Drawings and Creative Writing Inspired by Dar es Salaam by Sarah Markes (Mkuki Na Nyota Publishers, 2011)
Burn my Heart written by Beverley Naidoo (HarperCollins / Amistad, 2009)
Trouble in Timbuktu written by Cristina Kessler (Philomel Books, 2009)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier written by Ishmael Beah Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007)
Rise of the Golden Cobra written by Henry T. Aubin (Annick Press, 2007)
The Ancient Kushites written by Liz Sonneborn. (Scholastic, Franklin Watts, 2005)
Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay written by David Conrad. (Facts on File, 2005)
The Old African written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (Penguin Group (USA) Inc./ Dial Books, 2005)
The Heaven Shop written by Deborah Ellis (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2004)
Talking Drums written by Veronique Tadjo (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books, 2004)
Saba: Under the Hyena’s Foot written by Jane Kurtz (Pleasant Company 2003).
No More Strangers Now: Young Voices from a New South Africa by Tim McKee and Anne Blackshaw. (DK Publishing, 1998).
The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay by Patricia and Frederick McKissack (Henry Holt, 1994).
The African Mask by Janet Rupert (Clarion Books, 1994).
Apartheid: Calibrations of Color (Rosen Publishers, 1991).