Newbery Medal
The Newberry Medal is awarded each year to the author of the previous year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Runners-up are called Newbery Honor Books.
The medal is named in honor of John Newbery. He was an eighteenth-century British publisher of juvenile books. He made it a priority to create books specifically for children.
The Newberry Medal and the Caldecott Medal are the most prestigious American Children’s Book awards.
No Award was given in 1923, 1924, or 1927. That is because no book was considered suitable.
Learn more: official Newberry Medal homepage.
Winners:
The Westing Game (1978)
Author(s):
Ellen Raskin
Illustrator(s):
Kevin Henkes
A Gathering of Days; A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-32 (1979)
Author(s):
Joan Winsor Blos
Illustrator(s):
Robert Papp
Jacob Have I Loved (1980)
Author(s):
Katherine Paterson
Illustrator(s):
Chris Sheban
Dicey’s Song (1982)
Author(s):
Cynthia Voigt
Illustrator(s):
James Shefcik
The Hero and the Crown (1984)
Author(s):
Robin McKinley
Illustrator(s):
David McCall Johnston
Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985)
Author(s):
Patricia MacLachlan
Illustrator(s):
Vanessa Julian-Ottie
The Whipping Boy (1986)
Author(s):
Sid Fleischman
Illustrator(s):
Peter Sís
Lincoln: A Photobiography (1987)
Author(s):
Russell Freedman
Illustrator(s):
Photographs
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (1988)
Author(s):
Paul Fleischman
Illustrator(s):
Eric Beddows
Number the Stars (1989)
Author(s):
Lois Lowry
Illustrator(s):
Lois Lowry
Maniac Magee (1990)
Author(s):
Jerry Spinelli
Illustrator(s):
Alyssa Morris
Shiloh (1991)
Author(s):
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Illustrator(s):
Lynne Dennis
The Giver (1993)
Author(s):
Lois Lowry
Illustrator(s):
Cliff Nielsen
Walk Two Moons (1994)
Author(s):
Sharon Creech
Illustrator(s):
Richard Jones
The Midwife’s Apprentice (1995)
Author(s):
Karen Cushman
Illustrator(s):
Trina Schart Hyman
The View from Saturday (1996)
Author(s):
E. L. Konigsburg
Illustrator(s):
E. L. Konigsburg
Out of the Dust (1997)
Author(s):
Karen Hesse
Illustrator(s):
Daniel Mullins
