Caldecott and Newbery Awards

Both the Caldecott and the Newbery medals are given by the American Library Association each year. The Caldecott award is given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book published in the United States during the preceding year. The Newbery Medal is given for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. Basically, the Caldecott is awarded to an illustrator and the Newbery is awarded to an author. Both of the awards also recognize runners-up with an "honor" award.

Both of these awards are very prestigious and sell books. I do not feel that one award is better than the other; however, the Caldecott winners my be more well-known to the general public. I think this is due to the fact that the Caldecott is given for picture books. Parents are the ones who normally choose/purchase the picture books for their children. Parents are the ones who read these books to their young children before their children can read for themselves, so parents become very familiar with the books. The Newbery is generally given to books that are written for the older child. Parents generally do not read to their older children, and therefore, may not be familiar with the books that the children read.