Newbery Medal
| Newbery Medal | |
|---|---|
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| Awarded for | "The most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association |
| First awarded | 1922 |
| Official website | ala |
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The award is given to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." Named for John Newbery, an 18th-century English publisher of juvenile books, the Newbery was proposed by Frederic G. Melcher in 1921, making it the first children's book award in the world. The medal was designed by Rene Paul Chambellan and depicts an author giving his work (a book) to a boy and a girl to read.
The Newbery and the Caldecott Medal are considered the two most prestigious awards for children's literature in the United States. Many bookstores and libraries have Newbery sections; popular television shows interview the winners; textbooks include lists of Newbery winners, and many master's and doctoral theses are written about them.
Beside the Newbery Medal, the committee awards a variable number of citations to worthy runners-up, called Newbery Honors or Newbery Honor Books. Runners-up had been identified annually from the start, with a few exceptions only during the 1920s; all those runners-up were named Newbery Honor Books retroactively, when the "Honor" was introduced 1971, and may display the Newbery Honor Seal. As few as zero and as many as eight have been named, but from 1938 the number of Honors or runners-up has been one to five. The Honor Books must be a subset of the runners-up on the final ballot, either the leading runners-up on that ballot or the leaders on one further ballot that excludes the winner.
Every book considered must be written by a United States citizen or resident and must be published first or simultaneously in the United States in English during the preceding year.
The Newbery Medal was established June 22, 1921, at the annual conference of the American Library Association. Proposed by Publishers Weekly editor Frederick Melcher, the idea was enthusiastically received by the children's librarians present. The award was administered by the ALA from the start, but Melcher provided much needed funds that paid for the design and production of the medal. The Newbery Medal was inaugurated in 1922, considering books published in 1921. In retrospect it is officially dated 1922 and that convention is followed here. According to The Newbery and Caldecott Awards—the official guide, updated annually—Melcher and the ALA Board agreed to establish the award for several reasons that related to children's librarians. They wanted to encourage quality, creative children's books and to demonstrate to the public that children's books deserve recognition and praise. In 1932 the committee felt it was important to encourage new writers in the field, so a rule was made that an author would win a second Newbery only if the vote was unanimous. The rule was in place until 1958 and Joseph Krumgold became the first winner of two Newberys in 1960. Another change, in 1963, made it clear that joint authors of a book were eligible for the award. Several more revisions and clarifications were added in the 1970s and 1980s.
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