The first Caldecott Medal was awarded to Dorothy P. Lathrop for the black-and-white lithographs she created for "Animals of the Bible" by Helen Dean Fish.
Many of the eligibility terms for the Caldecott Medal were taken from the well-established Newbery Medal with one major exception...
According to a long tradition, Caldecott winners deliver an acceptance speech at an awards banquet held at the Annual Conference each summer.
Today Caldecott winners receive an early-morning phone call, but in the early years, they learned the news by receiving a letter from the committee chair. They responded in kind.
The price of the Newbery Caldecott banquet in 1950 was $5.00
The main characters of the 1953 Newbery and Caldecott winners were featured on the banquet program.
Ludwig Bemelmans accepts the 1954 Caldecott Medal for "Madeline's Rescue" from chair Virginia Haviland.
Until 1958 an artist could not be awarded more than one Caldecott Medal unless the committee's vote was unanimous. In his letter responding to the news, Robert McCloskey expresses his surprise at winning the award a second time.
Marie Hall Ets, Caldecott winner for "Nine Days to Christmas," is almost lost in the crowd in this photo of the head table at the awards banquet in 1960. She's in the second row, second from the left in the white dress
Frederic Melcher, the founder of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, attended every banquet until his death in 1963. Here he poses at the last banquet he attended with the 1962 winners, Marcia Browne and Elizabeth George Speare.
Everyone at the 1968 awards banquet received this limited edition print by Caldecott winner Ed Emberley, showing his interpretation of Randolph Caldecott's famous illustration of John Gilpin's Ride.
Weston Woods has traditionally given a limited edition recording of the acceptance speeches to everyone who attends the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet. Gail Haley's 1971 speech for "A Story, A Story" was produced on a flexi-disc, and is the earliest known "gift" recording. Today's guests receive the speech on CD.
Margo Zemach celebrates her Caldecott win with her four daughters at the 1974 awards banquet
Caldecott honoree Donald Crews signs an autograph for a young fan as his editor, Susan Hirschman, looks on
Barbara Cooney was the last artist to be awarded the Caldecott from a joint Newbery-Caldecott Committee. The following year Newbery and Caldecott were split into two separate committees.
Members of the 1988 Caldecott Committee pose with their winning book, "Hey Al," illustrated by Richard Egielski
Ed Young pauses for a photo before heading into the ballroom to accept the 1990 Caldecott Medal for "Lon Po Po."
Frederic Melcher's great-granddaughter reads the 1995 Caldecott winner, "Smoky Night," illustrated by David Diaz.
The banquet program for the 60th anniversary of the Caldecott Medal was strikingly illustrated by medalist Paul O. Zelinsky, who won the award for "Rapunzel."
Author Norton Juster joined Caldecott winner Chris Raschka onstage to play a tune for the audience at the awards banquet.
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