ABSTRACT
Literary prizes for children’s books began with the Newbery Medal, founded in 1921 and conceived as a mechanism for boosting the cultural status and sales of new and select titles. Hundreds of children’s book and media awards have since been established in the United States and internationally. Alongside this award proliferation we’ve also seen the emergence of participatory prizing, with the rise of mock prize events, prize prediction blogs, and other activities encouraging more informal and more diverse participation in prizing. Participatory prizing expands the reach and purpose of official prizing without challenging its basic values or functions, as this chapter shows.
