Winners of the 2007 CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals are announced
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News from CILIP
21 June 2007
BBC Newsround's Thalia Pellegrini presented the 2007 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals to Meg Rosoff and Mini Grey today at a special ceremony at the British Library in London.
Meg Rosoff has won the 2007 CILIP Carnegie Medal for 'Just In Case', her second novel for young people. As the CILIP Carnegie Medal celebrates its 70th anniversary, Rosoff joins the ranks of distinguished children's writers of the 20th & 21st centuries who have won this coveted medal since its inception in 1937.
Rosoff has already won three major prizes for her first novel, 'How I Live Now'. Her collection of accolades to date includes The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Branford Boase Award and the US Michael J Prinz Award. 'How I Live Now' was also short-listed for the Orange Prize, the Whitbread (now Costa) Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Fiction Prize.
"To me," says Rosoff, "the CILIP Carnegie Medal is particularly special. 'Just In Case' is the sort of book that people either love or hate; that they either identify with, or they don't. For a panel of librarians to agree that it deserves this historic medal is just amazing; I'm thrilled, honoured and astonished."
"It was the clear winner," says Ian Dodds, Chair of the CILIP Carnegie & Greenaway judging panel, "that's not to say that there wasn't strong competition; Meg Rosoff's book was up against excellent novels by established authors Kevin Brooks, Anne Fine and Marcus Sedgewick, as well as some very talented writing from newcomers Siobhan Dowd and Ally Kennan. Most of the six titles on the shortlist are for older readers. Their subject matter is tough but young people want to read about real life. The quality of the writing in 'Just in Case' is outstanding. An imaginative story of exceptional depth, it also has the power to help teenagers make sense of their lives."
It's a case of third time lucky for author-illustrator Mini Grey, who has scooped the 2007 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK's oldest and most prestigious award for children's book illustration, after being shortlisted three times in the past four years.
Mini, a former theatre designer and primary school teacher wins the coveted Medal for her book 'The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon', which relates what happens after the dish and the spoon run away together at the end of the nursery rhyme. The devoted duo find fame and fortune stateside with an acrobatic circus act, but when the money runs out, they fall in with some shady sharp knives, and pay a heavy price for turning to a life of crime.
Ian Dodds, comments: "'The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon' was our unanimous choice for the Medal. It's a book with a huge heart, which provides a fantastic visual experience and loads to enjoy for children and adults alike. With her cinematic references, visual jokes and eye for artistic detail, Mini Grey brilliantly conjures the America of the 1930s. Sweet, poignant and also very funny, this book is a triumph from beginning to end".
The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards are the UK's oldest and most prestigious awards for writing and illustration for young people. In this landmark year in their joint histories, the CILIP Carnegie Medal is celebrating its 70th anniversary, and the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal its 50th. Today's announcement of the 2007 Medal winners will be followed by an evening gala to celebrate the anniversaries at which the results of the public poll to find the nation's favourite CILIP Carnegie & Greenaway winners of all time will be announced by Mariella Frostrup.
For more information about the awards, the winners and the anniversaries visit: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/pressdesk/
Contact:
Mark Taylor, Marketing Executive
Tel: 020 7255 0654 Email: mark.taylor@cilip.org.uk
CILIP Carnegie Kate Greenaway Shadowing Scheme
Over 3,000 reading groups in schools and public libraries have registered to take part in the shadowing scheme for the awards, involving over 60,000 children and young people. For further information visit www.ckg.org.uk/shadowing
About CILIP
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. It forms a community of around 35,000 people engaged in library and information work, of whom around 22,000 are CILIP Members and around 12,000 are regular customers of CILIP Enterprises. CILIP members work in all sectors, including business and industry, science and technology, further and higher education, schools, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries.
The YLG
The Youth Libraries Group (YLG) is a Special Interest Group of CILIP. It works in a "pressure group" role, independently and with other professional organisations, to preserve and influence the provision of quality literature and library services for children and young people, both in public libraries and school library services.
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Updated: 24 January 2008