Caldecott vs. Newberry

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. 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. I do not feel that one award is better than the other. I do feel that the Caldecott winners are more known in the general public than the Newberry books. I think this is due to the fact that the Caldecott is awarded for distinguished picture books. Teachers, LMS and 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 aren’t as familiar with these prestigious books because they usually don’t read them to their children. So they’re not as familiar with them.