The first Caldecott Award was awarded on June 14, 1938. Dorothy P. Lathrop was the recipient for her illustrations in Animals of the Bible.
The Caldecott is a bronze medal awarded annually to an outstanding children’s picture book. The award is granted by a division of the American Library Association called The Association for Library Service to Children. Runner’s up are called Honor Books, but one actual award has been given each year since 1938 after the medal was designed by Rene Paul Chambellan.
Ironically, while the medals are only bestowed to American illustrators in the United States, the actual medal depicts an illustration by Randolph Caldecott, who was an English illustrator in the 19th century! I found that to be interesting!
The front of the award depicts an illustration by Caldecott called “The Diverting Story of John Gilpin based on a poem by William Cowper. The humor and action of the tale are apparent in this “snapshot” of artwork arranging a comical scene bearing a runaway horse, geese, dogs and onlookers! The back of the award shows another drawing by Caldecott of “four and twenty blackbirds bak’d in a pie” along with the winner’s name and the date engraved upon it.
The Caldecott Award was established later than the Newbury Award when the concern was raised that the illustrations are not only embellishment to a great story, but often the story is told therein! In 1978 two separate committees were set up for the two separate awards, but they are still often thought of in tandem.
Caldecott Award Criteria includes consideration of not only the execution of the artistic technique and the interpretation of the story, but the presentation to the age-appropriate audience of children. Other criteria are taken into account such as the ability to reproduce the artwork in a picture book and the ability for the artwork to stand alone without the aid of the text of the story in creating a mood and a setting!
Some of my personal favorite Caldecott winners are:
The 2008 award was awarded to a book called The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.
Noah’s Ark by Peter Spier (1978)
The beautiful artwork of Elizabeth Orton Jones in Prayer for a Child (1945)
And Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1942)
1 comment:
When we were given assignments to choose from I asked what the Caldecott award was.... I guess I can count this as school, can't I? Veryy interesting info. Nice job on explaining it. :)
Love
MJ
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