91 nominations for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2020 and 71 nominations for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2020 have been revealed this week.
A book must meet certain criteria in order to be nominated for the medals. For example, it must be published between the 1st September 2018 and the 31st August 2019, it must be written in English and aimed at children or young people.
I recently attended the Youth Libraries Group South East Carnegie and Kate Greenaway discussion day and one of the aims of the day was to select two titles from a selection of books to be added to the nominations list for both the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. We divided into small groups, discussed, deliberated and then voted for our favourite two.
For the Kate Greenaway Medal, we looked at the format of the book (typography, layout, size, cover, end-papers), the artistic style, the interaction between the text and the illustrations and the overall impact of the book. These were the books that we discussed.
- B is for Baby – Angela Brooksbank & Atinuke
- And the Ocean was our Sky – Rovina Cai & Patrick Ness
- Lubna and Pebble – Daniel Egneus & Wendy Meddour
- The Dam – Levi Pinfold & David Almond
- Hummingbird – Jane Ray & Nicola Davies
- The Go-Away Bird – Catherine Rayner & Julia Donaldson
Our favourites were Lubna and Pebble, The Dam and The Go-Away Bird.
For the Carnegie Medal, we considered the plot, characters, style and themes of each of the books and again voted for our favourites. These were the books we looked at.
- High Rise Mystery – Sharna Jackson
- Pages & Co(1): Tilly and the Bookwanderers – Anna James
- Lark – Anthony McGowan
- The Skylarks’ War – Hilary McKay
- Paper Avalanche – Lisa Williamson
- The Monsters We Deserve – Marcus Sedgwick
Skylarks’ War and Paper Avalanche won the Youth Libraries Group vote and were put forward to the nominations list.
Many libraries groups and CILIP members also nominated titles and it is interesting to see that nearly all of the books that we discussed at our event have made it onto the nominations list. The exception being The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick.
You can read the list of 91 nominations for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2020 and 71 nominations for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2020 on the website. The longlist will be revealed on 20th February 2020.