Caldecott versus Newbery

I have heard about these two prestigious awards all my life, but I really knew very little about their history, so I went to www.ala.org to find out more. The Newbery Medal, named for an eighteenth century bookseller, is actually the older of the two, having been around since 1922. In fact, it was the first children's book award in the world. The Newbery Medal is awarded by a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children division of the American Library Association for the most distinguished children's book of published in the previous year.
The Caldecott Medal, named for British illustrator Randolph Caldecott, was initiated because the American Library Association felt that illustrators of children's books should have the chance to be recognized for excellence, just as the authors were already being recognized by the Newbery Award. An illustrator can receive the award even if he or she is not the author of the book. The Caldecott Medal was first awarded in 1938.
Both of these awards are equally important. Some may argue that the Newbery Medal is more prestigious since it focuses on the written text, but in a picture book, the illustrations are at least as important, if not more important, to the message of the book than the words. Traditionally, the Caldecott Medal has gone to books for younger readers, while the Newbery has gone to books written for fourth through eight graders. An interesting exception, however, is the 2008 Caldecott winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which is Brian Selznick's 544-page novel written for nine to twelve year-olds.