The 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award, themost prestigious international award for children's books, has been given to Britishauthor David Almond and German illustrator Jutta Bauer. The award, which wasannounced Tuesday at the Bologna Book Fair, is given biennially by theInternational Board on Books for Young People to an author and artist whosework has made "a lasting contribution to children's literature." The winnerswere narrowed down from a field of 28 writers and 27 illustrators, based on anine-month evaluation by this year's Andersen jury. Almond is published byDelacorte Press in the U.S.,and Bauer has been published by Kane-Miller and Candlewick Press.
In choosing Almond, the jury recognized "the unique voice of a creator of magic realism for children. His use of language is sophisticated and reaches across the ages." And Bauer's work was lauded for "her philosophical approach, originality, creativity as well as her ability to communicate with young readers."
IBBY alsoawarded its biennial IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Awards, for projects run bygroups judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion foryoung people, funded by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper company in Japan. Two organizations won the award this year: the Osu Children'sLibrary Fund of Ghana, a Canadian-based charity that has built and stocked librariesin Ghana's capital and in more than 150 schools and villages in the country;and to Convenio de Cooperatión al Plan de Lectura de Medellín, Colombia, forits reading activities within the four poorest municipalities of that city.
