The graphic novel that became the first to win the Newbery Medal in 2020 was New Kid by Jerry Craft.
New Kid follows Jordan Banks, a Black seventh grader who transfers from a public school to an elite private school where most students are white. Craft uses panels, speech balloons, journal-like drawings, and school handbooks to explore friendship, identity, racism, class, and the pressure to fit into different communities.
The 2020 medal marked a major expansion in the kinds of books recognized by the Newbery committee. The award honors the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children, so it evaluates literary achievement rather than treating format as a limitation. New Kid was written and illustrated by Craft and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books.
Readers sometimes confuse the Newbery with the Caldecott Medal, which honors illustration in American picture books. New Kid also won the 2020 Coretta Scott King Author Award, but that is a separate honor recognizing outstanding books by African American authors and illustrators.