Newbery vs. Caldecott Medals

Awards
Every year, several awards are given to children's books for many different reasons. This post will give you a better understanding of two of the most well-known awards distributed yearly. These two awards include the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals. Both awards are given by the Association for Library Service to Children, which is a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

John Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the "author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published during the previous year." The books that do not receive a Newbery Medal, but have a message that is worthy of receiving notice, are given the Newbery Honor Seal. The Honor Seal may be given to several authors in one year, unlike the Medal. To learn more about this award and its past winners, please follow this link ALA Awards.

Randolph Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the "artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published during the previous year." Similar to the Newbery Award, picture books that would be considered "runners-up" to the Caldecott Medal winner receive the Caldecott Honor Citation. To learn more about this award and its past recipients, please follow this link ALA Awards.

When posed with the question, "Is one of these awards better than the other?" I would have to respond with a firm NO. I believe both the text and illustrations are important parts of what makes a a book noteworthy for children. Young children pull books off the shelf and focus mainly on the wonderful and vivid pictures inside the book. They tend to use these illustrations to help them decode words on the page and make predictions as to how the story will turn out in the end. As children progress through the reading spectrum, they begin to focus more on the text and the message it sends to the readers. Therefore, I believe these two awards complement each other and one award can not take precedence over another.