Carnegie Medal for Illustration
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals which inherited it from the Library Association.
The Medal was first named after the 19th-century English illustrator of children's books Kate Greenaway. It was established in 1955 and inaugurated in 1956 for 1955 publications, but no work that year was considered suitable. The first Medal was awarded in 1957 to Edward Ardizzone for Tim All Alone, which he also wrote. That first Medal was dated 1956. Since 2007 the Medal has been dated by its presentation during the year following publication. This medal is a companion to the Carnegie Medal for Writing which recognises an outstanding work of writing for children and young adults.
Nominated books must be first published in the U.K. during the preceding school year, with English-language text if any.
The award by CILIP is a gold Medal and £500 worth of books donated to the illustrator's chosen library. Since 2000 there is also a £5000 cash prize from a bequest by the children's book collector Colin Mears.
Rules
Library and information professionals in CILIP nominate books in September and October, after the close of the publication year. A panel of 12 children's librarians in CILIP's youth interest group judges books for both the Writing and Illustration awards. The shortlist is announced in March and the winner in June.Candidates must be published in the U.K. during the preceding year. They must be published for young people, and published in the U.K. originally or within three months in case of co-publication. English must be the language of any text, or one of dual languages. "All categories of illustrated books for children and young people are eligible."
CILIP specifies numerous points of artistic style, format, and visual experience, and also "synergy of illustration and text" that should be considered. Furthermore, "The whole work should provide pleasure from a stimulating and satisfying visual experience which leaves a lasting impression. Illustrated work needs to be considered primarily in terms of its graphic elements, and where text exists particular attention should be paid to the synergy between the two."
Winners
Through 2025 there have been 69 Medals awarded in 70 years, covering 1955 to 2024 publications. No eligible book published in 1955 or 1958 was considered suitable. From 2007 the medals are dated by the year of presentation; previously by the calendar year of British publication.Winners of multiple awards
Only one illustrator, Chris Riddell, has won three Medals. Fourteen other illustrators have won two of the 64 Medals awarded through 2021. The first winner of two Medals was John Burningham, 1963 and 1970. The most recent is Sydney Smith in 2018 and 2021.Only A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay, has won both the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for writing and illustration.
In 2014, This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen won both the Greenaway Medal and the American Caldecott Medal, which recognises a picture book illustrated by a U.S. citizen or resident. This is the first time the same book has won both medals. The recently common practice of co-publication makes a double win possible. Indeed, This Is Not My Hat was released in Britain and America on the same day, 9 October 2012, by Walker Books and its American subsidiary Candlewick Press.
Gail E. Haley was the first illustrator to win both medals, albeit for different works: the 1971 Caldecott for A Story a Story and the 1976 Greenaway for The Post Office Cat. She also wrote both books.
Helen Oxenbury, who won the 1969 and 1999 medals, was also a "Highly Commended" runner-up four times from 1989 to 1994; the distinction was used 31 times in 29 years to 2002 and no other illustrator was highly commended more than twice. Michael Foreman, who won the 1982 and 1989 medals, was highly commended once and four times a "Commended" runner-up, a distinction used 68 times in 44 years to 2002.
Walker Books, based in London, with American subsidiary Candlewick Press in Somerville, MA, has published 10 of the 30 Greenaway Medal-winning works from 1985 to 2014.
50-year ''Greenaway of Greenaways'' (2007)
For the 50th medal anniversary, CILIP posted online information about all of the winning works and conducted a poll to identify the nation's favourite Kate Greenaway Medalist. The public were invited to send in their nominations between 16 October and 1 December 2006. Polling was subsequently opened between 20 April and 14 June 2007 for ten shortlisted titles determined by a panel and the winner was announced on 21 June 2007 at the British Library. By less than one percentage point Dogger, illustrated and written by Shirley Hughes, outpolled Each Peach Pear Plum illustrated by Janet Ahlberg and written by Allan Ahlberg.The nation, and international voters too, considered a ballot or all-time shortlist comprising ten of the 50 Medal-winning works, selected by six "children's book experts". The panel provided annotations including recommended ages that range from 1+ to 10+ years; age 4+ for the winner.
50th Anniversary Top Ten
- Janet Ahlberg, Each Peach Pear Plum, written by Allan Ahlberg
- Edward Ardizzone, Tim All Alone
- Quentin Blake, Mr Magnolia
- Raymond Briggs, Father Christmas
- Anthony Browne, Gorilla
- John Burningham, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers
- Lauren Child, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato
- Shirley Hughes, Dogger
- Charles Keeping, The Highwayman, an edition of the 1906 poem by Alfred Noyes
- Helen Oxenbury, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, an edition of the 1865 novel by Lewis Carroll
Shortlists and Honorees
Headings give the official award dates: years of publication before 2006; years of presentation after 2006.Prior to the 1990's these listings cover only the Medalist and known Highly Commended or Commended books.
;1954 Carnegie Medal
Illustrator Harold Jones received a Special Commendation for the 1954 Carnegie Medal, for his part in Lavender's Blue: A Book of Nursery Rhymes, compiled by Kathleen Lines — a 180-page collection named for "Lavender's Blue", which Oxford University Press has reprinted many times. It 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 Greenaway was actually inaugurated one year later, recognising a 1956 publication.
1955 to 1989
19551956 'Edward Ardizzone, Tim All Alone @
Ardizzone had inaugurated the Tim series in 1936 with Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain ; its last sequel was Ships Cook Ginger. Tim All Alone was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1957 V. H. Drummond, Mrs Easter and the Storks @
1958
No work was considered suitable, the second and last time.
1959 William Stobbs, Kashtanka, by Anton Chekhov and A Bundle of Ballads, by Ruth Manning-Sanders from the Child Ballads
The 1959 medal recognised two books, the first of four such occasions to 1982. Two runners-up were "Commended", a new distinction that would be used 99 times in 44 years to 2002, including 31 "Highly Commended" books that were named beginning 1974.
1960 'Gerald Rose, Old Winkle and the Seagulls, by Elizabeth Rose
1961 Antony Maitland, Mrs Cockle's Cat, by Philippa Pearce
1962 Brian Wildsmith, ABC @
ABC was Wildsmith's first book, an alphabet book without any words, commissioned by Mabel George at Oxford.
1963 John Burningham, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers @
Borka was Burningham's first book as an author or illustrator and it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1964 C. Walter Hodges, Shakespeare's Theatre @ —nonfiction
Hodges was a freelance illustrator, a lover of theatre, and an authority on theatre construction in Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare's Theatre was the first nonfiction book cited for the medal.
Ambrus and Papas received the first and only commendations for "work in general".
1965 Victor Ambrus, The Three Poor Tailors @
The Three Poor Tailors was the first-published book written by Ambrus, who had illustrated dozens of fiction and nonfiction books for Oxford since immigrating from Hungary via Austria.
1966 Raymond Briggs, Mother Goose Treasury, traditional
1967 Charles Keeping, Charley, Charlotte and the Golden Canary @
1968 Pauline Baynes, A Dictionary of Chivalry, by Grant Uden —reference
Baynes alone has won the medal for illustrating a reference book; only a few nonfiction or fictionalised information books have been cited.
The distinguished runners-up were called "Honours" rather than "Commended" for 1968, 1969, and perhaps 1970.
1969 Helen Oxenbury, The Quangle Wangle's Hat, by Edward Lear and The Dragon of an Ordinary Family, by Margaret Mahy
The distinguished runners-up were called "Honours" again.
1970 'John Burningham, Mr Gumpy's Outing @
Burningham became the first to win two medals, 1963 and 1970, one year after his wife Helen Oxenbury won her first of two. As of 2012 fourteen illustrators have won two Greenaways, none three.
Garfield and Blishen won the companion Carnegie Medal for The God Beneath the Sea.
1971 Jan Pieńkowski, The Kingdom under the Sea and other stories, retold by Joan Aiken
1972 Krystyna Turska, The Woodcutter's Duck @
1973 Raymond Briggs, Father Christmas @
Briggs introduced the grumpy old man with a challenging, lonely job, to be continued in Father Christmas Goes on Holiday. Father Christmas was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1974 Pat Hutchins, The Wind Blew @
The Wind Blew has been called informative, meteorological poetry.
1975 Victor Ambrus, Horses in Battle @ and Mishka @
Ambrus won his second medal. Horses in Battle, nonfiction or fictionalised history, is the latest "information book" to be cited except for one, Pirate Diary.
1976 'Gail E. Haley, The Post Office Cat @
Haley had won the 1971 Caldecott Medal and moved to the U.K. in 1973. No one else has won both medals, which CILIP rules and co-publication enable in the 21st century.
1977 Shirley Hughes, Dogger @
Dogger was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007, and was voted the public favourite from that slate.
1978 Janet Ahlberg, Each Peach Pear Plum, by Allan Ahlberg
Each Peach Pear Plum was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007, and finished a close second in public voting on that slate.
1979 Jan Pieńkowski, The Haunted House @
Pieńkowski won his second medal.
1980 Quentin Blake, Mr Magnolia @
Mister Magnolia was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
Dickinson won the companion Carnegie Medal for City of Gold.
1981 Charles Keeping, The Highwayman, an edition of the 1906 poem by Alfred Noyes
Keeping won his second medal. The Highwayman was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1982 Michael Foreman, Long Neck and Thunder Foot, by Helen Piers and Sleeping Beauty and other favourite fairy tales, selected and translated by Angela Carter
The 1982 medal recognised two books, the last of four times from 1959. Sleeping Beauty also won the inaugural Kurt Maschler Award for children's book "text and illustration... integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."
Oakley and the Church Mice series were highly commended for the second time, the first double recognition for a series. Subsequently, Janet Ahlberg and Chris Riddell were runners-up for the first books and medalists for the sequels.
1983 'Anthony Browne, Gorilla @
Gorilla was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007. It also won the annual Kurt Maschler Award for integrated text and illustration.
Ten, Nine, Eight was also a runner-up for the U.S. Caldecott Medal.
1984 Errol Le Cain, Hiawatha's Childhood, a section of the 1855 poem by Longfellow
1985 Juan Wijngaard, Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady, retold by Selina Hastings
1986 Fiona French, Snow White in New York @
The Ahlbergs won the Emils for The Jolly Postman.
1987 Adrienne Kennaway, Crafty Chameleon, by Mwenye Hadithi
1988 Barbara Firth, Can't You Sleep Little Bear?, by Martin Waddell
Browne won an Emil for this edition of Alice.
Special 1988 commendation: David Burnie, Bird
1989 Michael Foreman, War Boy: a Country Childhood ' @ —autobiographical
Foreman won his second medal. Oxenbury was highly commended for the first of four times.
1990s
In 1991 Janet Ahlberg won her second medal, both for books that were husband-and-wife collaborations. The Jolly Christmas Postman was the second of three interactive Jolly Postman books; the last would be published posthumously. Janet Ahlberg is one of three people to be commended for the Greenaway Medal, at least, for two books in a series.1992 saw Anthony Browne win his second medal, on this occasion for Zoo written by Julia MacRae.
In 1993 Michael Foreman was a distinguished runner-up for the fifth time.
In 1994 Helen Oxenbury was the lone "Highly Commended" runner-up for the fourth time in six years. The distinction would be used 31 times in 29 years to 2002. Oxenbury and author Trish Cooke would also win the Emils for So Much.
In 1995 Patrick Benson and author Kathy Henderson won the Emils for The Little Boat.
1997, 1998 and 1999 marked second medal wins for three different illustrators. In 1997 P. J. Lynch won for the second time with When Jessie Came Across the Sea, and in 1998 Helen Cooper did the same with Pumpkin Soup. The final year of the decade saw Helen Oxenbury win her second Greenaway Medal for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which would go onto be named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007. Oxenbury also won her second Emil, which were subsequently discontinued having run from 1982 to 1999.
Colour key:
2000s
Thanks to a bequest left in 2000 by children’s book and illustration collector, Colin Mears, the winner now receives a cheque for £5000 along with the Greenaway Medal.The winning book in the year 2000, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007, and ranked third in public voting from that slate.
In 2001, Pirate Diary became the latest "information book" to be cited for the medal and the first since 1975. It was the second in a series of four first-person journals, inaugurated by Richard Platt and Chris Riddell in 1999 and continued by Platt with another illustrator. Riddell was the third and latest illustrator to be at least commended for the Greenaway for books in a series, following Graham Oakley and Janet Ahlberg.
2002 saw Bob Graham become the first medalist from Australia. Lauren Child was the last "Commended" or "Highly Commended" runner-up; there had been 99 such distinctions over 44 years.
Twenty-six years after her first medal, 2003 marked a second win for Shirley Hughes and Ella's Big Chance —a retelling of Cinderella. Commendations ceased to be awarded in this year. Since 2003 there have usually been eight books on the shortlist.
In 2004, Chris Riddell was awarded his second medal, this time for Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver". In this year there were only 7 shortlisted books.
Wolves by Emily Gravett in its U.S. edition was Gravett's first book as author or illustrator, just one year out of college. She won the 49th Greenaway Medal, awarded in its 51st year. Three years later in 2008, when once again there were only 7 shortlisted nominations, Emily Gravett won her second medal for her fourth book, with the cover title Little Mouse's
'''Colour key:'''
2010s
In 2012, Jim Kay and Patrick Ness won both the Greenaway and Carnegie Medals for A Monster Calls, the first such double. Prior to this, two illustrators of Carnegie Medal-winning books had been runners-up for the Greenaway, namely Charles Keeping and Michael Foreman.2014 marked the first time that the same book had won both the Greenaway and Caldecott medals, having won the latter in 2013. The winner, Jon Klassen, the first Greenaway medalist from Canada, was shortlisted for two separate publications. In this year the shortlist comprised only seven nominations as opposed to the usual eight.
In 2016, Chris Riddell became the first triple medalist in the history of the award, having previously won in 2001 and 2004.
From 2016 to 2018 an additional award, The Amnesty CLIP Honour, was bestowed upon a shortlisted entry in conjunction with Amnesty International for "books that most distinctively illuminate, uphold or celebrate freedoms". In 2016 There’s a Bear on My Chair received the inaugural honour and in 2017 the winner was The Journey, illustrated and written by Italian artist Francesca Sanna, which followed a family of refugees. In 2018, Levi Penfold received the honour for his black and white illustrations in The Song from Somewhere Else.
In 2018 there were only seven shortlisted nominees as opposed to the usual eight. The winner, Sydney Smith would go on to win again in 2021.
In 2019 the Amnesty CLIP Honour was replaced by the Shadowers' Choice Award, voted for and awarded by children and young people who shadow the Medals.
Colour key:
2020s
In 2020, Australian artist Shaun Tan became first BAME author to win the Greenaway Medal in its 64-year history.In 2022, Long Way Down by Danica Novgorodoff became the first graphic novel to win the medal since Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas in 1973. The 2023 medal also went to a graphic novel. In that year there were only six shortlisted nominees as opposed to the usual slate of eight.
Colour key:
| Year | Illustrator | Title | Publisher | Author | Result | Ref. |
| 2020 | Shaun Tan | Tales from the Inner City | Walker Books | — | Winner | ' |
| 2020 | Kadir Nelson | The Undefeated | Andersen Press | Kwame Alexander | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award | |
| 2020 | Poonam Mistry | You're Snug with Me | Lantana Publishing | Chitra Soundar | Shortlist | |
| 2020 | Chris Mould | The Iron Man | Faber & Faber | Ted Hughes | Shortlist | |
| 2020 | Chris Naylor-Ballesteros | The Suitcase | Nosy Crow | — | Shortlist | |
| 2020 | Levi Pinfold | The Dam | Walker Books | David Almond | Shortlist | |
| 2020 | Júlia Sardà | Mary and Frankenstein | Andersen Press | Linda Bailey | Shortlist | |
| 2020 | Beth Waters | Child of St Kilda | Child's Play | — | Shortlist | |
| 2021 | Sydney Smith | Small in the City | Walker Books | — | Winner | ' |
| 2021 | Sharon King-Chai | Starbird | Two Hoots | — | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award | |
| 2021 | Sara Lundberg | The Bird Within Me | Book Island | — | Shortlist | |
| 2021 | Kate Milner | It's a No-Money Day | Barrington Stoke | — | Shortlist | |
| 2021 | Poonam Mistry | How The Stars Came To Be | Tate Publishing | — | Shortlist | |
| 2021 | Pete Oswald | Hike | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2021 | David Ouimet | I Go Quiet | Canongate | — | Shortlist | |
| 2021 | Catherine Rayner | Arlo The Lion Who Couldn't Sleep | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist | |
| 2022 | Danica Novgorodoff | Long Way Down | Faber & Faber | Jason Reynolds | Winner | |
| 2022 | Mariachiara Di Giorgio | The Midnight Fair | Walker Books | Gideon Sterer | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award | |
| 2022 | George Butler | Drawn Across Borders | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2022 | Emily Gravett | Too Much Stuff | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist | |
| 2022 | Christian Robinson | Milo Imagines the World | Pan Macmillan | Matt de la Peña | Shortlist | |
| 2022 | Yu Rong | Shu Lin's Grandpa | Otter-Barry Books | Matt Goodfellow | Shortlist | |
| 2022 | Sydney Smith | I Talk Like a River | Walker Books | Jordan Scott | Shortlist | |
| 2022 | Peter Van den Ende | The Wanderer | Pushkin Children's Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2023 | Jeet Zdung | Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear | Kingfisher | Trang Nguyen | Winner | |
| 2023 | Joe Todd-Stanton | The Comet | Flying Eye Books | — | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award | |
| 2023 | Flora Delargy | Rescuing Titanic | Wide Eyed Editions | — | Shortlist | |
| 2023 | Benjamin Phillips | Alte Zachen: Old Things | Cicada | Ziggy Hanaor | Shortlist | |
| 2023 | Levi Pinfold | The Worlds We Leave Behind | Bloomsbury Children's Books | A.F. Harrold | Shortlist | |
| 2023 | Yu Rong | The Visible Sounds | UCLan | Jianling Yin | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Aaron Becker | The Tree and the River | Walker Books | — | Winner & Shadowers' Choice Award | |
| 2024 | Catalina Echeverri | April's Garden | Graffeg | Isla McGuckin | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Mariajo Ilustrajo | Lost | Quarto | — | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Steve McCarthy | The Wilderness | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Erika Meza | To the Other Side | Hachette | — | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Poonam Mistry | The Midnight Panther | Bonnier | — | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Catherine Rayner | The Bowerbird | Macmillan | Julia Donaldson | Shortlist | |
| 2024 | Chloe Savage | The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2025 | Olivia Lomenech Gill | Clever Crow | Walker | Chris Butterworth | Winner | |
| 2025 | Theo Parish | Homebody | Macmillan | — | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award | |
| 2025 | Wen Hsu Chen | The Invisible Story | Lantana | Jaime Gamboa, trans. by Daniel Hahn | Shortlist | |
| 2025 | Lauren Child | Grey | Walker | Laura Dockrill | Shortlist | |
| 2025 | Mariajo Ilustrajo | I Love Books | Frances Lincoln | — | Shortlist | |
| 2025 | Juan Palomino | Letters in Charcoal | Lantana | Irene Vasco, trans. by Lawrence Schimel | Shortlist | |
| 2025 | Kate Rolfe | Wolf and Bear | Too Hoots | — | Shortlist | |
| 2025 | Yu Rong | Flying High | UCLan | Cao Wenxuan, trans. by Simone Monnelly | Shortlist |