It was a little like an Academy Awards party in Shannon Houghton’s class at Wildwood Elementary last Thursday. Except the participants were not guessing about best actors or directors, but which of their favorite illustrated books would get a Randolph Caldecott Medal.

Houghton’s class overwhelmingly voted for the book “Art and Max” by David Wiesner to get the top prize, and also honored “Chalk” by Bill Thomson and “Interrupting Chicken” by David Ezra Stein.

Unfortunately, Houghton’s students missed the mark on two of their picks: “Interrupting Chicken” was given an honor award, but the top prize went to “A Sick Day For Amos McGee” by Erin B. Stead. The American Library Association announced the awards at a ceremony Jan. 10. The other honor winner went to “Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave” by Bryan Collier and Laban Carrick Hill.

The purpose of getting students interested in award-winning books, Houghton said, is to teach them to recognize notable authors and illustrators.

“It’s really cool too to see them in the library. They can stand back and say, ‘I don’t know this book, but I know the author, I know he has a reputation for being a good illustrator.’ They develop preferences as readers, too,” she said.

Houghton’s class read 11 books this year that would be eligible for a Caldecott. The class has also read 16 past Caldecott winners.

“Art and Max” is the story of two anthropomorphic lizard painters who pursue different styles: one paints traditionally, the other goes the Jackson Pollack-like abstract route.

“The larger lesson would be, don’t get stuck in one mode of doing things. You should be willing to step outside the comfort zone,” Houghton said. “In the end, they wind up seeing both kinds of art have value.”

The Caldecott was created in 1937 to honor illustrated children’s books, named after a 19th century illustrator. Past Caldecott winners include “The Polar Express,” “Jumanji” and “The Snowy Day.”

Houghton authors a blog about her class, which includes reviews and recommendations of children’s books. In an entry about the mock Caldecott awards, several students weighed in on what appealed to them about their choices.

“I really liked ‘Art and Max’ because it had a lot of colors in it. Plus, I really liked the book because it has colors that people don’t have and wouldn’t usually use to make art,” said a student named Payton.