Administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was first given to its namesake in 1954. The award, a bronze medal, honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.

2007: James Marshall

2005: Laurence Yep

2003: Eric Carle

2001: Milton Meltzer

1998: Russell Freedman

1995: Virginia Hamilton

1992: Marcia Brown

1989: Elizabeth George Speare

1986: Jean Fritz

1983: Maurice Sendak

1980: Theodor S. Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

1975: Beverly Cleary

1970: E. B. White

1965: Ruth Sawyer

1960: Clara Ingram Judson

1954: Laura Ingalls Wilder