The Caldecott Medal: ALA’s Caldecott Medal Honors Children’s Book Illustrators

Each year, the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the ALA, awards the Caldecott Medal to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year." The award is one of the ALA's Youth Media Awards, which are presented at the annual ALA Midwinter Conference. Like the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal is one of the most coveted awards in children's book publishing.

About the Caldecott Medal
Awarded annually since 1938, the Caldecott Medal was established in 1937 to fill the need to acknowledge children's picture books of exceptional quality (the Newbery Medal had begun being awarded in 1922 to honor excellence in children's literature). The Caldecott Medal is named after Randolph Caldecott (1846 - 1886), an influential British book illustrator who is known for cohesively integrating his illustrations with children's stories, to further the narratives rather than merely accompany them.

Judging considerations for the Caldecott Medal include excellence in interpretation of the story, theme or concept as well as artistic technique.

Prestigious Past Winners of the Caldecott Medal
Past winners of the Caldecott Medal include titles that are still beloved today, such as:

Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey (1942)
Madeline's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans (1954)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1964)
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (1982)

See the Newbery and other ALA Youth Media Award winners and Honor Books for 2012.