Caldecott and Newbery Medals are both extremely prestigious awards granted to the authors of special works. Both awards are sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children division of the American Library Association. The Caldecott Medal is awarded to the most distinguished picture book illustrator, and the Newbery award is granted to the author of the most distinguished piece of literature. Both of these awards are granted annually, and both awards are also only given to U.S. Citizens. Additionally, each award also recognizes a list of honor books, yearly.
In the Appendix section of Essentials of Children's Literature, one can locate a list of these books for each year. For example, in 2004, the winner of the Caldecott Medal was The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein, and honor books for this award include Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine, What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. That same year, The Tale of Desperaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo won the Newbery Medal, and honor books in 2004 include Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes, and An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy (Brown and Tomlinson, 2005). I think that both of these awards are equally prestigious but target different talents. Again, they are both awarded by the same association, given annually, and one must be a U.S. Citizen to receive the award, but the Caldecott Medal is given to an illustrator, and the Newbery Medal is given to an author of distinguished literature.
References
Brown, C. L. & Tomlinson, C. M. (2005). Essentials of children's literature.(5th ed.). Boston: Pearson A and B.
