From the experienced pen of Children's Laureate Anne Fine to the first novel of Kevin Brooks, the shortlist for England's 2002 Andrew Carnegie Medal shows a dramatic move away from magic, concentrating instead on some dark and realistic novels. The list includes: Kevin Brooks, Martyn Pig (Chicken House); Sharon Creech, Ruby Holler (Bloomsbury); Anne Fine, Up on Cloud Nine (Doubleday); Alan Gibbons, The Edge (Orion); Lian Hearn, Across the Nightingale Floor (Macmillan); Linda Newbery, The Shell House (David Fickling); and Marcus Sedgwick, The Dark Horse (Orion).

The list of Kate Greenaway Medal nominees includes two titles by last year's winner Lauren Child. The nominees are: Simon Bartram, Man on the Moon (Templar); Nick Butterworth, Albert Le Blanc (Collins); Lauren Child, That Pesky Rat (Orchard); Lauren Child, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? (Hodder); Bob Graham, Jethro Byrde, Fairy Child (Walker); David Melling, The Kiss That Missed (Hodder); and Nick Sharratt, Pants (David Fickling).

The winners will be announced in London on July 11.

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators recently announced its 2002 Golden Kite Awards. The fiction winner was Fresh Girl by Jaïra Placide (Random/Lamb); Shaper by Jessie Haas (Greenwillow) was awarded a Golden Kite Honor. In nonfiction, the winner was This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie by Elizabeth Partridge (Viking); Ansel Adams: America's Photographer by Beverly Gherman (Little, Brown) won an honor.

The picture book text award went to George Hogglesberry: Grade School Alien by Sarah Wilson, illus. by Chad Cameron (Tricycle), and the honor award went to Stars in the Darkness by Barbara Joosse, illus. by R. Gregory Christie (Chronicle). For picture book illustration, Mrs. Biddlebox by Linda Smith, illus. by Marla Frazee (HarperCollins), won the prize; Sailor Moo: Cow at Sea by Lisa Wheeler, illus. by Ponder Goembel (S&S/Jackson) won the honor.

The awards will be presented at SCBWI's annual conference in Los Angeles in August.