What is the difference between the Newbery and Caldecott Awards?

The Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal are both awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, which is a division of the American Library Association. The Caldecott Medal is named after the illustrator Randolph Caldecott. This medal is awarded each year "to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in English in the United States during the preceding year." The Newbery Medal is named after an English bookseller John Newbery. This medal is awarded each year "to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in English in the United States during the preceding year."



Both of these awards are extremely notable awards. The Newbery Medal was actually the first one of the two to be established when in 1921 Frederic Melcher proposed to the American Library Association that a medal should be given to the most distinguished children's book of the year. According to the 2006 edition of A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books by the Association for Library Service to Children, this idea was widely accepted and viewed as an opportunity for educators and librarians "to encourage original and creative work in the field books for children." Several years later in 1937 after many people had become concerned that the artists of children's books were getting overlooked, the Caldecott Award was created. Both awards are equally important and notable, however, the Newbery will probably always be the one most discussed mainly because it was the first children's book award in the world.