What type of books are eligible to receive a Newbery Medal?
Newbery Medal 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 leading contenders, 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
Newbery Medal committee selected the medal and honor books for both awards. In 1978 the rules were changed and two committees were formed of fifteen people each, one for each award. A new committee is formed every year,with "eight elected, six appointed, and one appointed Chair". Committee members are chosen to represent a wide variety of libraries, teachers and book reviewers. They read the books on their own time, then meet twice a year for closed discussions. Any book that qualifies is eligible; it does not have to have been nominated. Newbery winners are announced at the Midwinter Meeting of the American