- 2023 Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Colby College
- 2023 NAACP Image Award Nominee
- 2023 MOMAZOZO Artists Residency Carrizozo, New Mexico
- 2021 The Joyce Foundation, Joyce Award/ Sculpture
- 2019 Honorary Doctorate of Arts, Maine College of Art & Design
- 1994 Travel Grants Fund for Artists, National Endowment for the Arts and Arts International
- 2018 University of Southern Maine Artist In Residence
- 2016 Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Artist in Residence
- 2014 Partners of the Americas Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, Artist in Residence
- 1997 Seattle Arts Commission, Artist -in- Residence
- 1996 Tacoma Art Museum, Artist -in- Residence, Pacific Arts Center
- 2012 Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Artist in Residence, Sapelo Island, Georgia
- 2010 James Washington Jr. Studio, Artist -in- Residence, Seattle WA
- 2021 Maine Library Association, Lupine Award
- 2020 Caldecott Honor Medal 2019
- 2013 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, Ellen’s Broom
- 2022 Maine Literary Awards Distinguished Honor
- 2000 Oppenheim Portfolio Platinum Book Award, “Seven Spools of Thread”
- 1999 Texas Blue Bonnet Book Award, “The Riches of Oseola McCarty,”,
- 1999 Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award-The Riches of Oseola McCarty, A W &Co.
- 1995 Children’s Book of the Year; “The Foot Warmer and the Crow”, Bank Street College