Caldecott Medal 2010s: A decade of winners

The 2010s represented a transformative decade for the Caldecott Medal, America’s most prestigious award for children’s picture book illustration. As digital media began reshaping how children engaged with stories, the award’s winners proved that beautifully crafted picture books remained not just relevant but essential—offering tactile, imaginative experiences no screen could replicate. The decade saw illustrators pushing formal boundaries while honoring timeless storytelling traditions, with award winners ranging from intimate animal tales to groundbreaking biographical narratives. Jerry Pinkney’s lush watercolor adaptation of The Lion & the Mouse, which kicked off the decade, set a tone of artistic sophistication that would define Caldecott selections throughout these years.

What made the 2010s Caldecott winners distinctive was their willingness to tackle increasingly complex themes while maintaining the visual accessibility that makes picture books magical for young readers. Jon Klassen’s wickedly clever This is Not My Hat played with narrative mischief and minimalist illustration, while Brian Floca’s Locomotive captured the raw energy of America’s railroad era with technical precision. Perhaps most significantly, the decade saw the Caldecott spotlight important historical narratives for children: Sophie Blackall’s Finding Winnie, which traced the true origins of A.A. Milne’s beloved bear, and Javaka Steptoe’s vibrant Radiant Child, celebrating the young artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, showed that picture book illustration could be a vehicle for discovery and representation. The 2010s Caldecott Medal winners collectively demonstrated that children’s literature was evolving alongside society, expanding whose stories got told and how.

Here’s our complete retrospective of the decade’s Caldecott Medal winners: