How the Caldecott Came to Be
How the Caldecott Medal Came to Be
Each year the Newbery Medal is awarded by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's books published the previous year. However, as many persons became concerned that the artists creating picture books for children were as deserving of honor and encouragement as were the authors of children's books, Frederic G. Melcher suggested in 1937 the establishment of a second annual medal. This medal is to be given to the artist who had created the most distinguished picture book of the year and named in honor of the nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph J. Caldecott. The idea for this medal was also accepted enthusiastically by the Section for Library Work with Children of ALA and was approved by the ALA Executive Board.
The Caldecott Medal "shall be awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children published in the United States during the preceding year. The award shall go to the artist, who must be a citizen or resident of the United States, whether or not he be the author of the text. Members of the Newbery Medal Committee will serve as judges. If a book of the year is nominated for both the Newbery and Caldecott Awards the committee shall decide under which heading it shall be voted upon, so that the same title shall not be considered on both ballots." In 1977 the Board of Directors of the Association for Library Service to Children rescinded the final part of the 1937 action and approved that "any book published in the preceding year shall be eligible to be considered for either award or both awards." Separate committees to choose the Newbery and Caldecott Awards were established in 1978 and began with the 1980 selection committees.
From the beginning of the awarding of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, committees could, and usually did, cite other books as worthy of attention. Such books were referred to as Newbery or Caldecott "runners-up." In 1971 the term "runners-up" was changed to "honor books." The new terminology was made retroactive so that all former runners-up are now referred to as Newbery or Caldecott Honor Books.
The Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal
The medal for the Caldecott Medal was designed by Ren Paul Chambellan. He used two scenes from Randolph Caldecott's work for the medal designs. On the face, along with the words The Caldecott Medal, he depicted John Gilpin's ride (from Caldecott's illustrations for William Cowper's The Diverting History of John Gilpin).
The reverse is the pie based on "Four and twenty blackbirds bak'd in a pie", On the other side is the pie containing four-and-twenty blackbirds being set before the king from one of Caldecott's illustrations for the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence". It includes the inscription "Awarded annually by the Children's and School Librarians Sections of the American Library Association."
Each medal is struck in bronze and awarded to the annual winner. Facsimile seals for Medal winners and Honor Books are printed and may be placed on the covers of each respective book. The Caldecott Medal (gold) and Honor Book (silver) seals are sold by the Association for Library Service to Children, with all profits going to support its programs, including the Frederic G. Melcher Scholarship Fund.