Caldecott Medal

Purpose - The Caldecott Medal was created to encourage American illustrators to create memorable illustrations that lived up to the standard of Randolph Caldecott's books which include Sing a Song for Sixpence and Hey Diddle Diddle.

History - The Caldecott Medal was first awarded in 1938 and was named after the 19th century British illustrator, Randolph Caldecott. This is the second award created for children's books. Mr. Caldecott was born in England and illustrated pictures for newspapers, travel books, as well as two books by Washington Irving. Shortly after moving to America, he died.

Facts -
*Winning illustrators must be U.S. citizens or residents.
*A different group of fifteen people meet each year to choose the Caldecott Medal and Honor book recipients.
*The books are awarded a gold-foil seal which lets librarians, teachers, parents, and children easily recognize a winner

*Winning the Caldecott helps to ensure that a book will remain on library and bookstore shelves for many years.
*Winning books have a greater chance at being translated into other languages or made into a video, movie, or stage production.

Recent winner Locomotive by Brian Floca