Kwaneta is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships for her writing, advocacy and leadership. She also serves as a board member to several organizations.

Awards and fellowships:

Haymarket Writing Freedom Fellow, 2024

The Writing Freedom Fellowship awards talented emerging and established poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers affected by carceral systems for their notable and necessary writing. Developed and administered by Haymarket Books in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and the Art for Justice Fund, Writing Freedom aims to recognize, support, and amplify the essential literary voices and contributions of those directly affected by the criminal legal system.

Edward R. Murrow Award - Small Digital Organization - Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, 2024 (recognized for In solitary confinement, banned books are a lifeline, contribution to The Emancipator’s 2023 Prison Banned Books Week Series)

Solitary Watch Ridgeway Reporting Award, 2023

USC National Systems-Impacted Writers Contest, Notable Entry, 2023

Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize, 2022 (recognized for Working in Prison Fields Didn’t “Correct” Me, It Revealed the System’s Brutality)

Board Member:

The Menopause Project, Impact Justice, 2025 - Present

Prison Health News, 2024 - Present

Center on Gender and Extreme Sentencing, 2023 - Present