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Carnegie Medal for Writing
Annual award for writing a children's book published in the UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Carnegie Medal for Writing, established in 1936 as the Carnegie Medal, is an annual British literary award for English-language books for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), who in 2016 called it "the UK's oldest and most prestigious book award for children's writing".[1]
Nominated books must be written in English and first published in the UK during the preceding school year (September to August).[2] Until 1969, the award was limited to books by British authors first published in England.[3] The first non-British medalist was Australian author Ivan Southall for Josh (1972). The original rules also prohibited winning authors from future consideration.[3] The first author to win a second Carnegie Medal was Peter Dickinson in 1981, who won consecutively for Tulku and City of Gold. As of 2024, eight authors had received the Medal more than once.
The winner is awarded a gold medal and £500 worth of books donated to the winner's chosen library. In addition, since 2016 the winner has received a £5,000 cash prize from the Colin Mears bequest.[4][5]
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History
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The Medal is named after the Scottish-born American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), who founded more than 2,800 libraries in the English-speaking world, including at least one in more than half of British library authorities.[4] It was established in 1936 by the British Library Association, to celebrate the centenary of Carnegie's birth,[4][6] and inaugurated in 1937 with the award to Arthur Ransome for Pigeon Post (1936) and the identification of two "commended" books.[6] This first Medal was dated 1936, but since 2007 the award has been dated by its year of presentation, not year of publication.[7]
In 1955, the Kate Greenaway Medal, for "distinguished illustration in a book for children", was established as a companion to the Carnegie Medal.[8]
Both awards were established and administered by the Library Association, which was succeeded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in 2002.[6] In 2022, the two awards were renamed to the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Carnegie Medal for Illustration.[9]
From 2022 to 2024, the award was sponsored by the audio technology company Yoto and was called the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing.[10] As of 2025 the awards are sponsored by Scholastic and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).[11]
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Process
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CILIP members may nominate books each September and October, with the full list of valid nominations published in November.[12] The longlist, chosen by the judges from the nominated books, is published in February. The judging panel comprises 12 children's librarians, all of whom are members of CILIP's Youth Libraries Group (YLG). The shortlist is announced in March and the winner in June.[12]
Titles must be English-language works first published in the UK during the preceding year (1 September to 31 August). According to CILIP, "all categories of books, including poetry, non-fiction and graphic novels, in print or ebook format, for children and young people are eligible".[2] Multiple-author anthologies are excluded; however, co-authored single works are eligible.[2]
Young people from across the UK take part in shadowing groups organised by secondary schools and public libraries, to read and discuss the shortlisted books.[12]
CILIP instructs the judging panel to consider plot, characterisation, and style.[2] Furthermore, it states that "the book that wins the Carnegie Medal should be a book of outstanding literary quality. The whole work should provide pleasure, not merely from the surface enjoyment of a good read, but also the deeper subconscious satisfaction of having gone through a vicarious, but at the time of reading, a real experience that is retained afterwards."[2]
A diversity review in 2018 led to changes in the nomination and judging process to promote better representation of ethnic minority authors and books.[13]
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2024 award
Joseph Coelho won the 2024 Carnegie Medal for The Boy Lost in the Maze,[14] a verse novel that uses the legend of the Minotaur in a tale of a teenager searching for his biological father.
There were eight books on the 2024 shortlist:[15]
- Kwame Alexander, The Door of No Return (Andersen)
- Zillah Bethell, The Song Walker (Usborne)
- Sophie Cameron, Away with Words (Little Tiger)
- Joseph Coelho, illus. by Kate Milner, The Boy Lost in the Maze (Otter-Barry Books)
- Nicola Davies, illus. by Petr Horáček, Choose Love (Graffeg)
- Tia Fisher, Crossing the Line (Bonnier) Winner of the Shadowers choice
- Hiba Noor Khan, Safiyyah's War (Andersen)
- Nathanael Lessore, Steady for This (Bonnier)
Winners
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From 1936 to 2025, 86 medals were awarded. No eligible book published in 1943, 1945, or 1966 was considered suitable by the judging panel.[7]
From 2007 onward, the medals are dated by the year of presentation. Before this, they were dated by the calendar year of their British publication.[7]
Forty-one winning books were illustrated in their first editions, including every one during the first three decades. Six from 1936 to 1953 were illustrated or co-illustrated by their authors; none since then.
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Carnegie of Carnegies
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To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie Medal in 2007, CILIP created a 'Living Archive' on the Carnegie Medal website with information about each of the winning books and conducted a poll to identify the nation's favourite Carnegie Medal winner, to be named the "Carnegie of Carnegies". The winner, announced on 21 June 2007 at the British Library, was Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (1995). It was the expected winner, garnering 40% of the votes in the UK, and 36% worldwide.[34]
70th Anniversary Top Ten
- David Almond, Skellig, (Hodder, 1998)
- Melvin Burgess, Junk, (Penguin, 1996)
- Kevin Crossley-Holland, Storm, (Egmont, 1985)
- Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light, (Bloomsbury, 2003)
- Alan Garner, The Owl Service, (HarperCollins, 1967)
- Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street, (Penguin, 1937)
- Mary Norton, The Borrowers, (Penguin, 1952)
- Philippa Pearce, Tom's Midnight Garden, (Oxford, 1958)
- Philip Pullman, Northern Lights, (Scholastic, 1995)
- Robert Westall, The Machine Gunners, (Macmillan, 1975)
Northern Lights, with 40% of the public vote, was followed by 16% for Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and 8% for Skellig by David Almond. As those three books had won the 70-year-old Medal in its year 60, year 23, and year 63, some commentary observed that Tom's Midnight Garden had passed a test of time that the others had not yet faced.[35]
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Honorees
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Before 2007, the selection process for the award was structured such that the year in which the award was given aligned with the year of publication for the books being considered. The books would be nominated and chosen during the year following their release, with the winners being announced and the medals presented in the early months of the subsequent year.[36]
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Beginning in 2003, commendations were not presented, only short and longlists; only the shortlists are presented below.
2010s
2020s
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Repeat honorees
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Eight authors have won two Carnegie Medals, which was prohibited for many years.[citation needed] Additionally, several authors have been shortlisted and/or commended multiple times.
The table below provides a list of authors who have been honoured, sorted first by number of honors and the rank of the honor (e.g., win is higher than commendation), then by the authors' last name. For the sake of ease, shortlists are considered of equal rank to commendations, though lower than high commendations. The table was last updated in March 2024.
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Multiple award recipients
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Six books have won both the Carnegie Medal and the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, which was inaugurated 1967.(Dates are years of UK publication, and Carnegie award dates before 2006.)
- Alan Garner, The Owl Service (1967)
- Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972)
- Geraldine McCaughrean, A Pack of Lies (1988)
- Anne Fine, Goggle-Eyes (1989)
- Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials 1: Northern Lights (1995)
- Melvin Burgess, Junk (1996)
Only A Monster Calls, written by Patrick Ness and illustrated by Jim Kay, has won both the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals (2012).
Only The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009) has won both the Carnegie Medal and the equivalent American award, the Newbery Medal.[80]
Sharon Creech, who won the Carnegie for Ruby Holler (2002), previously won the Newbery and two UK awards for Walk Two Moons (1994).[81]
Four writers have won both the Carnegie and the US Michael L. Printz Award. The Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognises the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". The four writers are David Almond, Aidan Chambers, Geraldine McCaughrean, and Meg Rosoff. Chambers alone has won both for the same book, the 1999 Carnegie and 2003 Printz for the novel Postcards from No Man's Land.[7][82][83]
In its scope, books for children or young adults, the British Carnegie corresponds to the American Newbery and Printz awards.
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See also
- Carnegie Medal for Illustration
- Children's Laureate
- Blue Peter Book Awards
- Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
- Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
- Newbery Medal, the primary American Library Association annual children's book award
- Michael L. Printz Award, the primary ALA annual young adult book award
Notes
- This book was named to the 70th Anniversary Top Ten in 2007.[16]
- Dave McKean illustrated the UK Adult edition and the US edition of The Graveyard Book, while Chris Riddell illustrated the UK Children's edition, all published in October 2008. Riddell was shortlisted for the companion Kate Greenaway Medal, recognising the year's best illustration.
- The special commendation to Harold Jones in 1955 for his 1954 illustration of Lavender's Blue was "a major reason" for the Library Association to establish the Kate Greenaway Medal that year; no 1955 work was judged worthy in 1956, so the Medal was actually inaugurated one year later.[16]
- The award to Brooks roused some controversy because of the bleak nature of the novel.[50]
- The Bone Sparrow received an Amnesty CILIP Honour commendation.[57]
- The Hate U Give received an Amnesty CILIP Honour commendation.[61]
- Westfall's The Machine Gunners was shortlisted for the 2007 Carnegie of Carnegie's award.
- Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden was selected for the 2007 Carnegie of Carnegie Top 10.[16]
- Pullman's Northern Lights was selected for the 2007 Carnegie of Carnegie's Top 10.[16]
- Westfall's The Machine Gunners was selected for the 2007 Carnegie of Carnegie's award.[16]
- Norton's The Borrowers was selected for the 2007 Carnegie of Carnegie's Top 10.[16]
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References
External links
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