 The award's name was intentionally chosen to honor recently assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.The name also commemorates the life of Dr. King and honors the dedication Coretta Scott King had to making the world a place that welcomes all people.It was particularly fitting that the first Coretta Scott King Award was presented to Lillie Patterson, a school librarian from New Jersey, for her elementary level biography "Martin Luther King, Jr.