From: K.T. Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Fri, 17 May 2013 14:06:51 -0500

I think probably what you are referring to, Marc, is that the Caldecott Committee sometimes has some sort of expert speak to them at their very first meeting (which is open, by the way, to other ALA attendees) at ALA Annual at the very beginning of their award year. But this is up to the Chair -- some do and some don't. Many chairs have a former committee member come to speak to the committee about the selection process. Sometimes the expert has been Dilys Evans, and when I've seen her presentation, she has used past winners of the Caldecott Medal to demonstrate her points. I can't remember if she specifically used a book such as "Martin's Big Words" or "Starry Messenger."

What I have seen in these sorts of presentations, no matter who the expert is, is an emphasis on the terms and criteria the committee has to work with and a reminder that all sorts of picture books are eligible, without limitation to style, media, subject, or genre.

In terms of photos, they would have to the original work of the artist, so a book by, for example, Tana Hoban or Susan Kuklin would be eligible for consideration, but one that used archival photos would not. For the record, no book illustrated by photographs has won the Caldecott or a Caldecott Honor, although there are some (Knuffle Bunny and Smoky Night, for example) that use original photos as part of the overall illustrations.

On 5/17/2013 1:13 PM, bookmarch_at_aol.com wrote:

I have heard that the Caldecott committee is given an intro talk from a designer about art and such. If so, do photos and photo layouts come up in those discussions? Are NF books ever used as examples of award-worthy art? Marc Aronson -
Received on Fri 17 May 2013 02:06:51 PM CDT