Hi Julie and Barbara,

I too would thoroughly recommend looking at the Kate Greenaway medal criteria.  I'm afraid I don't agree with Barbara's comment below that the criteria  " ... don¹t necessarily allow for unconventional picture books that don¹t fit these criteria, not as a result of failure, but because of innovation. For example, they ask how the text and image relate to each other, and so that don¹t allow for books that are without text".  The official medal criteria actually states that: "... where text exists particular attention should be paid to the synergy between the two.   All criteria will not necessarily be relevant to every title nominated."  Indeed, last year's shortlist included the wonderful Sydney Smith / Jon Arno Lawson's 'Footpath flowers' which is wordless.

Personally, I think the Kate Greenaway medal is very much about innovation but it does ask the judges to assess / justify the use of innovative features "Is the typography (i.e. format, typeface, print size, spacing, novelty features etc.) integral or intrusive?" and "Do the illustrations enhance the text or are they 'pictorial upholstery', i.e. for decorative purposes only?" 

Good luck with your project.

Best wishes,

Paula Wride
Collections Officer

Collection Team, Design Works, William Street, Felling, Gateshead NE10 0JP 

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-----Original Message-----
From: New Directions in Picturebook Research [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brownie, Barbara
Sent: 23 October 2016 11:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: PICTUREBOOKRESEARCH Digest - 21 Oct 2016 to 22 Oct 2016 (#2016-49)

Hi Julie

I approve of your method of looking at Caldecott medal criteria. Perhaps this could be extended by looking at other criteria to see where there are points of overlap. The criteria for the Kate Greenaway medal are more detailed, and it¹s useful to see how they have broken them down:
http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/awards-process.php
They break their criteria down into several categories: style, format, synergy of text and illustration, visual experience (with a list of questions in each category that act as criteria).
These are very helpful as a guide for the assessment of the value of a picture book, but also problematic. They don¹t necessarily allow for unconventional picture books that don¹t fit these criteria, not as a result of failure, but because of innovation. For example, they ask how the text and image relate to each other, and so that don¹t allow for books that are without text, or that make creative use of contradiction (see David Lewis, ŒReading Contemporary Picturebooks').

Kind regards
Dr Barbara Brownie (Senior Lecturer, Visual Communication) School of Creative Arts University of Hertfordshire

On 23/10/2016 00:01, "New Directions in Picturebook Research on behalf of PICTUREBOOKRESEARCH automatic digest system"
<[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>There is 1 message totaling 85 lines in this issue.
>
>Topics of the day:
>
>  1. Question re: "good" illustrations in picture books
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Date:    Sat, 22 Oct 2016 14:03:21 +0100
>From:    Elizabeth Dulemba <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Question re: "good" illustrations in picture books
>
>Julie,
>
>I¹ve been trying to answer that very question during my studies at the 
>University of Edinburgh. During my first year MFA I did a paper called 
>³What is Heart Art?² - in other words, what makes some illustrations 
>truly resonate. It¹s a question I¹ve continued to explore, and I ask it 
>of the illustrators I interview for my blog each week.
>http://dulemba.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/new-feature-heart-art-starring-gu
>ess .html . The question always has a heart icon in front of it on 
>interviews you can find at 
>http://dulemba.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BlogBookTour .
>There are some interesting and thought provoking answers. I also 
>created a deck of cards with different illustrations on them to use 
>with my students in the MFA in Children¹s Book Writing and Illustrating 
>program at Hollins University. I¹ll be happy to share a link to my 
>paper, with images of this deck, if you¹re interested. Let me know.
>
>Cheers!
>e
>Elizabeth O. Dulemba
>[log in to unmask]
>http://dulemba.com
>@dulemba
>
>University of Edinburgh
>College of Art
>MFA2 Illustration
>
>> On Oct 22, 2016, at 12:08 AM, PICTUREBOOKRESEARCH automatic digest 
>>system <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> Date:    Fri, 21 Oct 2016 09:54:42 -0700
>> From:    Julie Barton <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Question re: "good" illustrations in picture books
>> 
>> Hi everyone!
>> 
>> I work for an early learning and literacy nonprofit, Tandem, Partners 
>>in  Early Learning <http://www.tandembayarea.org/>, based in the Bay Area.
>> We're trying to be informed and intentional around building our 
>>collection  of books for children birth-6, especially with regards to 
>>diversity and  representation.
>> 
>> One question our Book Selection Committee is grappling with is: "what 
>>makes  a "good" illustration? How can we integrate subjective views 
>>like this into  building our collection (and even: should we?)?
>> 
>> We've used the Caldecott Medal criteria
>> 
>><http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldeco
>>ttt
>>erms/caldecottterms>as
>> a starting point. Are there other awards, library collection 
>>development  documents, or criteria you would recommend?
>> 
>> Many thanks,
>> 
>> ~Julie
>> 
>> --
>> Julie Barton, Ph.D.
>> Manager at Tandem, Partners in Early Learning 
>><http://www.tandembayarea.org>
>> 
>> ³We don¹t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don¹ts: 
>>we  need books, time, and silence. *Thou shalt not* is soon forgotten, 
>>but *Once  upon a time* lasts forever.² ‹ Philip Pullman
>
>------------------------------
>
>End of PICTUREBOOKRESEARCH Digest - 21 Oct 2016 to 22 Oct 2016 
>(#2016-49)
>***********************************************************************
>**