The Newbery Medal — The ALA's Newbery Medal for Children's Literature

The John Newbery Medal is awarded each year by the American Library Association (ALA) to "the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children, published by an American publisher in the United States." The award acknowledges children's books published in the previous year. Like the Caldecott Medal for children's illustration, the award is one of the ALA's Youth Media Awards; it is one of the most prestigious among those, which are presented at the annual ALA Midwinter Conference.

About the Newbery Medal
Created in 1921 and awarded annually since 1922, the Newbery Medal is the first award to acknowledge children's books of exceptional literary quality. The medal is named after John Newbery (1713-1767), an English printer-publisher who is considered to be the first publisher to develop the market for children's books.

The Newbery Medal is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the ALA. Judging considerations for the award include presentation and development of theme, plot, characters, style and setting; educational content and popularity are not considerations.

Prestigious Winners of the Newbery Medal
Past winners of the Newbery Medal include such nowpvenerated titles as:

The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting, (1923)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1963)
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1986)
The Giver, by Lois Lowry (1994)

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