Literary award · United States · since 1922
Newbery Medal
Annual award for writing a children's book published in the United States. Established 1922.
About Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children". The Newbery and the Caldecott Medal are considered the two most prestigious awards for children's literature in the United States. Books selected are often recognized and popular to the point of being widely carried by bookstores and libraries, the authors are often interviewed on television, and master's theses and doctoral dissertations have been written on winning works. Named for John Newbery, an 18th-century English publisher of juvenile books, the winner of the Newbery is selected at the ALA's Midwinter Conference by a fifteen-person committee. The Newbery was proposed by Frederic G.
From the Wikipedia article “Newbery Medal”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recent winners
| Year | Winner | Winning work |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Erin Entrada Kelly | — |
| 2024 | The Eyes and the Impossible | — |
| 2024 | Dave Eggers | — |
| 2023 | Freewater | — |
| 2023 | Amina Luqman-Dawson | — |
| 2022 | Donna Barba Higuera | The Last Cuentista |
| 2021 | Tae Keller | When You Trap a Tiger |
| 2019 | Meg Medina | Merci Suárez Changes Gears |
| 2018 | Erin Entrada Kelly | None |
From Wikidata; the list may be incomplete for some years.
Eligibility and entering
Check the official rules of the Newbery Medal for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.
If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.
Sources & data
- Structured data from Wikidata Q622813 (CC0).
- Summary text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).