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Longlists Announced for Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards 2022

carnegiegreenaway.org.uk / #CKG22

Wednesday 16th February 2022: The UK’s longest running and best-loved book awards for children and young people, the Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards, today announced the longlists for 2022.

33 books have been selected in total – 18 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal and 15 for the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal – with themes of community and connection, shared humanity and friendship all explored in the titles.

The lists include:

The Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged by children’s librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Award voted for by children and young people. The longlists were chosen from 148 nominations by the judging panel, which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

The 2022 Yoto Carnegie Medal longlist is (alphabetical by author surname):

Graphic featuring the covers of the Yoto Carnegie Medal Longlist 2022 books

The 2022 Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal longlist is (alphabetical by illustrator surname):

Graphic featuring the covers of the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal Longlist 2022 books

Jennifer Horan, Chair of Judges for the Yoto Carnegie and Greenaway Awards 2022, comments:

“It is a real privilege to be chairing the judging panel during what has been an exceptional year for children’s publishing. We were transported and moved by evocative and lyrical prose; taken on fantastical journeys and invited into new worlds through powerful illustration; and given real hope by the messages of humanity, connection and community that so many of this year’s longlisted books share. I congratulate all the authors and illustrators on their outstanding work, which will bring young readers so much pleasure and reassurance in these times of worry.”

Along with the former winners, this year’s Carnegie longlist includes eight previously longlisted authors: Katya Balen, Phil Earle, Keith Grey, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, Julian Sedgwick, Alex Wheatle and Jeff Zentner.

In addition to Palmer and Parr’s titles, three other debut novels are recognised: When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten, which was shortlisted for both the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Jhalak Prize; Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin whose day job in community relations and peace building in Derry has informed her first YA novel about the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland; and The Wolf Road by poet Richard Lambert –his presence also represents a first longlisting for independent publisher Everything with Words.

Illustration is celebrated on this year’s Carnegie longlist, including in We Were Wolves by Jason Cockcroft, a darkly beautiful YA novel, which was also nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal; Julian Sedgwick’s Tsunami Girl, a part-manga, part-prose coming-of-age story, illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada, that explores identity and belonging, and was inspired by the author’s work as a therapist; Katya Balen’s feast for the senses, October, October, illustrated by Angela Harding; and Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 28 Songs, a non-fiction cultural history skilfully told by Jeffrey Boakye and illustrated by Ngadi Smart.

Books such as Boakye’s and Divin’s, which retell and reframe the past are well-represented in the Carnegie picks including Alex Wheatle’s Cane Warriors, which follows the real-life slave rebellion known as Tacky’s War in 18th century Jamaica and Phil Earle’s 20th book, When the Sky Falls, inspired by true events from World War II. Exploring more recent history, Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Dr Yusef Salaam, a member of ‘The Exonerated Five’, is a novel in verse that looks at the reality of the criminal justice system for young people of colour in America.

On the Kate Greenaway longlist, which features illustrators who live in nine different countries around the world including Italy, Belgium, USA, Canada, Peru, Germany, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England, two make a repeat appearance: Debi Gliori and Britta Teckentrup.

Alongside Novgorodoff, three illustrators make the list with their first children’s book: award-winning artist George Butler with his stunning Drawn Across Borders: True Stories of Migration; John Broadley for While You’re Sleeping, an enchanting look at the world of night-time work and wildlife, written by Mick Jackson; and Cayman Islands’ nature guide Peter Van den Ende with his wordless picture book The Wanderer, a gateway to a marine fantasy world.

The theme of encouraging readers to respect and enjoy nature continues in other longlisted books such as Wild Child: A Journey Through Nature by Dara McAnulty and illustrated by Barry Falls – a family friendly, fact-packed guide to exploring the natural world; and another wordless picture book The Midnight Fair, illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio, which is a spectacular and surreal look at the secret life of animals.

Friendship and connection, acceptance, and understanding were common themes across both lists, with Jeff Zentner’s In the Wild Light, a beautiful story of grief, found family and young love; Keith Gray’s The Climbers, an unflinching look at teenage boys desperate to both stand out and fit in; Tom Percival’s The Invisible, in which he sympathetically deals with the impact of poverty and the importance of community, inspired by his own childhood; and Over the Shop illustrated by Qin Leng, where a young girl and her grandparent open their home and hearts.

Key Dates:

The winners will each receive £500 worth of books to donate to their local library, a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.

Now in its fourth year, the Shadowers’ Choice Award – voted for and awarded by the children and young people who shadow the Medals – will also be announced at the ceremony.

Yoto, the innovative, screen-free audio platform for children, is the headline sponsor for the Awards. The ambition of the recently announced three-year partnership is to increase the visibility, profile and reach of the Awards to inspire and empower a new generation of readers. The Awards are also sponsored by Peters, the official book supplier, and ALCS.


For further information on the Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards please visit: 
https://carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/

#CKG22

For media requests and interviews, please contact: Hannah Davies or Annabelle Wright at ed public relations on hannah@edpr.co.uk or annabelle@edpr.co.uk or 020 7732 4796


Notes to Editors

For all 33 author and illustrator biographies and images, book synopses and jackets, please click here.

About the Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards and Shadowing Scheme

About Yoto

About CILIP, the library and information association

About the CILIP Equality and Diversity Action Plan

About CILIP’s Awards Partners