In 1921, Frederic G. Melcher, coeditor of Publishers Weekly and founder of Children's Book Week, proposed an award for authors of distinguished American children's books to the American Library Association (ALA) meeting of the Children's Librarians' Section. The purpose of the award would be:
To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field.
Melcher suggested that the award be named after John Newbery, an eighteenth-century English writer, publisher, and bookseller who had a great influence on the development of children's literature in Great Britain as well as in the United States. The children's librarians accepted Melcher's proposal and, in 1922, it was approved by the ALA Executive Board, becoming the first children's book award in the world.
First awarded in 1922, the John Newbery Medal is a prestigious award given each year to the author of the book voted the most distinguished contribution to children's literature published in the United States during the previous year. The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) of the American Library Association appoints a 15member Newbery Committee each year to select the winner of the John Newbery Medal. The winner is announced in January or February at the ALA's midwinter convention.
