What award did J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit win in 1938 from the New York Herald Tribune?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit won the Children’s Spring Book Festival award from the New York Herald Tribune in 1938.

The award followed the novel’s successful publication in 1937 and helped establish Tolkien as a notable writer for younger readers. The book had already attracted attention for its combination of adventure, humor, songs, invented history, and an unusually detailed fantasy world.

The Hobbit tells how Bilbo Baggins joins Thorin Oakenshield and the Dwarves on a journey to recover treasure from the dragon Smaug. Although it was written as a children’s book, its themes and mythology provided foundations for the later story of The Lord of the Rings.

This honor is sometimes confused with major literary medals from the United States or Britain. The Hobbit did not win the Newbery Medal or the Carnegie Medal. Its 1938 recognition came specifically from the New York Herald Tribune’s Children’s Spring Book Festival.