The information for each award comes from the American Library Association website. Links to the corresponding pages on that website are provided by clicking on the name of the award.

Caldecott Medal

• The award is named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott.
• It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Coretta Scott King Award

• The award is named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• This award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). It recognizes outstanding African American authors and illustrators, and it is awarded for books about the African American experience that are written for a youth audience.

Newbery Medal

• The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery.
  
• It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Pura Belpré Award

• This award is named after the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library.
  
• It was established in 1996, and it is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, an ALA affiliate.

Michael L. Printz Award

• The Printz award is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association.
• The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association, and is awarded for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.