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Group Leader Information

Welcome to the group leaders section of the shadowing site − this is a space for librarians, teachers, youth group leaders, volunteers, parents − for everyone that is running a shadowing group. This area contains information and free resources to help you run your shadowing group.

If you have a question that is not answered here please visit the Shadowing Group Leader FAQs.

What is Shadowing?

If you wish to find out more about the shadowing scheme and how to run shadowing sessions with your students, check out our Shadowing Toolkits and Top Tips and Ideas to get you started.

Plus check out our free Shadowing Webinars on how to get the most out of shadowing the Carnegie Medals.

Head over to the Downloads page for posters, bookmarks and other publicity materials to promote your Shadowing Group.

Who can take part?

The Shadowing Scheme is designed to be flexible with books to enjoy with children aged 5 to 18 years. It is not expected that every child will read every book on the Yoto Carnegie Shortlists for Writing and Illustration but we hope the shortlists will offer something for everyone to enjoy.

Age Guidance

You will find recommended age guidance on each of the shortlisted titles on the page for each book but we recommend that you request parental permission for children to take part in the scheme with details of the books if you are in any doubt over their suitability. The reading resources for each title also include a disclaimer to this effect.

For all shortlisted titles, we trust that shadowers and other young readers will be guided by their group leader, librarian, teacher or parent in terms of selecting suitable, enjoyable and age appropriate material from the lists.

For more information or queries of this nature please see the Group Leader FAQs. You will also find a template parent/guardian permission letter for taking part in the Shadowing Scheme in the downloads section below.

Sign up for Shadowing News

To receive the latest news, top tips and competitions relating to the Yoto Carnegie Awards and Shadowing Scheme sign up to our Shadowing Newsletter. We send shadowing newsletters linking to the latest content from the shortlisted authors and illustrators and new interactive activities for your shadowing group to enjoy!

Your Passkey

When you register your Shadowing Group you will be sent an email with your group’s passkey. Please make a note of this as your shadowing group will need to enter it when they take part in online shadowing activity such as posting reviews or artwork, ranking their favourites and voting for the Shadowers’ Choice Awards.

If you need a reminder of your group name or passkey please request your passkey to be re-sent here

Guidance for publishing reviews

Each year we invite Shadowers to submit their reviews and artwork in response to the shortlisted books. It is a chance to hear our young readers’ thoughts and opinions on the books and a great way for our authors and illustrators to hear from their target audience.

CILIP has a duty to provide a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all participants in the awards and shadowing scheme. We ask you as group leaders to ensure that all contributions are made with respect and consideration for fellow readers and the book creators, this includes any contributions by group leaders.

Please do not publish anything to the website that is inappropriate or contains any discriminatory language or commentary. Please also be mindful of spoilers within the review content that may give away parts of the book for other readers.

CILIP reserves the right to take down any content that is does not adhere to our code of conduct.

Thank you for helping us to ensure everyone taking part in the shadowing scheme is able to have an enjoyable reading experience.

Template Parent Permission Letter

View our privacy statement

View CILIP’s code of conduct which is inclusive for all Carnegies digital content and activities


Group Leader Timeline

View the awards timetable and get these key dates in your diary to ensure your shadowing group does not miss out on the chance to enter our competitions and vote in the Shadowers’ Choice Awards!