Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards

Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards, annual British awards for children's literature, given to acknowledge outstanding writing and illustration in books for children and young people. Qualifying books must be written in English and have been first published in the United Kingdom the previous year to the awards. The prizes have been administered since 2002 by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the UK's foremost professional body for librarians, with the panel of judges being composed of 12 children's librarians. Both prizes consist of a gold medal and books to the value of £500 given to a library of the winner’s choice.

The Carnegie Medal was established by The Library Association in 1936 in memory of Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-born industrialist and philanthropist credited with setting up 2,509 libraries across the English-speaking world and whose name became synonymous with the promotion of education and personal development. The first winner of the prize was Arthur Ransome for the book Pigeon Post, and over the years he has been joined by writers such as Noel Streatfeild (1938; The Circus is Coming); Eric Linklater (1944; The Wind on the Moon); Eleanor Farjeon (1955; The Little Bookroom); C. S. Lewis (1956; The Last Battle); Rosemary Sutcliff (1959; The Lantern Bearers); Alan Garner (1967; The Owl Service); Robert Westall (1975; The Machine Gunners and 1981; The Scarecrows); Anne Fine (1989; Goggle-Eyes and 1992; Flour Babies); Philip Pullman (1995; Northern Lights); Melvin Burgess (1996; Junk); and Terry Pratchett (2001; The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents).

The Kate Greenaway Medal was established by the Library Association in 1955, and its first recipient was Edward Ardizzone (1956; Tim All Alone). Other illustrators who have been honoured include Raymond Briggs (1966; Mother Goose Treasury and 1973; Father Christmas), Shirley Hughes (1977; Dogger and 2003; Ella’s Big Chance), Janet Ahlberg (1978; Each Peach Pear Plum and 1991; The Jolly Christmas Postman), Quentin Blake (1980; Mister Magnolia), and Lauren Child (2000; I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato). The award is named after the 19th-century illustrator Kate Greenaway.