He was the U.S. nominee for the biennial and international Hans Christian Andersen Awards, as both a children's book illustrator in 1982 and a writer in 1988.

In addition to his artistic endeavors, Steig also did well at athletics, being a member of the collegiate All-American water polo team.

[7] For a 1934 auction organized by Langston Hughes to benefit the defence fund for the Scottsboro Boys — nine African-Americans who had been falsely accused of rape and denied fair trials — he contributed an untitled original drawing and a reprint of another.

After the release of Shrek 2 in 2004, Steig became the first sole-creator of an animated movie franchise that went on to generate over $1 billion from theatrical and ancillary markets after only one sequel.

[11] When asked his opinion about the movie based on his picture book, Shrek, William Steig responded: "It's vulgar, it's disgusting — and I loved it.

That same year, Steig received the CINE Golden Eagle Award in Education[13] for the film adaptation of this book.

And his brother Arthur was a writer and poet, who, according to Steig, read The Nation in the cradle, was telepathic and "drew as well as Picasso or Matisse".