CILIP is the leading professional body for librarians and information managers with around 24,000 members who work in business and industry, education, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries.

The selection process is organised by the Youth Libraries Group (YLG), one of CILIP's Special Interest Groups, which itself has over 3000 members. 12 children's librarians - members of the YLG - form the panel of judges.

Nominations are received by 24 October 2008 for books published between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2008.

The judges read and assess each title, and a shortlist for each Medal is announced on 24 April 2009. The winning titles are then announced at the prestigious Awards Ceremony on 25 June.

Who can nominate and how to do it

Members of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, either personally, through their local authority or through their regional Branch or Special Interest Group.

Nominations can be submitted electronically via an online form. A printed nomination form is published in the September issue of CILIP's magazine Library and Information Gazette, and additional forms are available from CILIP Marketing Tel: 020 7255 0650 Textphone: 020 7255 0505.

Up to 2 titles may be nominated accompanied by supporting statements of 30 - 50 words.The supporting statement should be a summary of what makes the book outstanding in the view of the nominator, highlighting its strengths against the Carnegie criteria. It should not be a simple retelling of the book's content.