On Monday, the 2017 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals were awarded at a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. For the first time the medals were awarded to a U.S. author and illustrator respectively. The CILIP Carnegie Medal went to Ruta Sepetys for Salt to the Sea, while Lane Smith was awarded the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for There Is a Tribe of Kids.
Sepetys and Smith each received a specially commissioned gold medal, £5,000 from the Colin Mears Award, and £500 worth of books to donate to their local library. In addition, the winners of the Amnesty CILIP Honour category were also announced. Selected from the respective shortlists, the Amnesty CILIP Carnegie Honour was given to Zana Fraillon for The Bone Sparrow, and the Amnesty CILIP Kate Greenaway Honour was awarded to Francesca Sanna for her debut picture book, The Journey.
On the announcement of the medals Tricia Adams, chair of the 2017 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals judging panel, said: “The books that have triumphed demonstrate the vitally important role literature and illustration play in helping children and young people to understand the world around them, be that through a historical lens or through the natural world around them. These, and the Amnesty Honour commendations selected from the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway shortlists, poignantly prove the importance of stories in making voices heard—especially those of the dispossessed—encouraging the young reader to look beyond the headlines.”
The shortlists for both medals included previous winners as well as other U.S. and Australian authors. Previous U.K. winners Meg Rosoff, Frank Cotrell Boyce, and Philip Reeve were on the Carnegie Medal shortlist alongside U.S. authors Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock and Lauren Wolk and Australian author Glenda Millward, while the Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist included previous winners William Grill, Chris Riddell, Emily Gravett and Jim Kay.
