The Arrival won the Best Books for Young Adults, American Library Association, 2008[7] the *Aurealis Award: Golden Aurealis Short Story Award [8] the Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Short Story,[8] the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Special Citation, the Locus Award for best art book,[8] and the Spectrum Award for Book, Silver Award,[8] and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Related Book,[9] the Chesley Award for Interior Illustration, 2008,[8] the Ditmar Award for Artwork,[8] and the International Horror Guild Award for Illustrated Narrative.[8] The French translation, "Là où Vont Nos Pères", won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book .
Rovina Cai has credited The Arrival with having made her realize she wanted to be an artist.[10]
