Awards

The ALA provides numerous awards for excellence in the broad field books:
“The ALA annually confers numerous notable book and media awards, including the Caldecott Medal, the Darmouth Medal, the Newbery Medal, the Michael L. Printz Award and the Stonewall Book Award.”

For example, the Caldecott medal is awarded to the best published picture book for the past year.

“YALSA administers the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature, the Margaret Edwards Award for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature and the Alex Awards or the ten best adult books with teen appeal. Two newer awards administered by YALSA are the Odyssey Award, for Excellence in audiobook production, and the brand new William C. Morris YA Award, which will be awarded for the first time in 2009 honoring first-time authors of young adult literature.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Library_Association