Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal annually recognizes "the most distinguished picture book for children" published in the United States, beginning with 1937 publications. It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association. The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are the most prestigious American children's book awards.

The award is named for Randolph Caldecott, a nineteenth-century English illustrator. Rene Paul Chambellan designed the Medal in 1937. The obverse scene is derived from Randolph Caldecott's front cover illustration for The Diverting History of John Gilpin (based on a 1782 poem by William Cowper), in which Gilpin is astride a runaway horse. The reverse is based on "Four and twenty blackbirds bak'd in a pie", one of Caldecott's illustrations for the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence".

Beside the Caldecott Medal, the committee awards a variable number of citations to worthy runners-up, called the Caldecott Honors or Caldecott Honor Books. As for the Newbery Medal during the same timespan, 1938 to date, the annual number of Honors is one to five. For two decades there have been two to four Honor Books.