Newbery and Caldecott - What is the difference?

The Newbery and Caldecott Awards are both distinguished honors in the world of children’s literature. They both celebrate monumental contributions to children’s literature. Each award is very different as so one cannot be viewed as being the greater award as the criteria for receiving each award is different. The John Newbery award celebrates the contribution of the author, while the Caldecott award celebrates the contribution of the illustrator. These are both major contributions to the creation of a book but yet are entirely different and deserve different recognitions and awards.

The Newbery Award was the first children’s literature award in the world. The Newbery Medal is named for John Newbery, an eighteenth-century English bookseller. Every year, the Newbery Medal is awarded to the book published the previous year that was the most distinguished American children’s book. The Newbery Award primarily focuses on how the story is told and how well it is presented through text. The two Newbery books that I chose to read for this blog clearly demonstrate those qualities.

The Caldecott award began because people were concerned that the illustrators of the books were not getting as much recognition as they deserved. The Caldecott Medal, named after the nineteenth-century illustrator Randolph J. Caldecott, was established. The Caldecott Medal serves to honor the illustrator of the most distinguished picture book from the previous year.