CILIP | Carnegie Medal Award Background

Carnegie Medal Award: Background

1935 was the centenary of the birth of Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish born philanthropist who funded so many libraries in Britain and internationally. The Library Association decided that setting up a British book award in his honour would be a fitting tribute. A sub committee was formed to take this forward.

At that time W. C. Berwick Sayers, chief librarian of Croydon had been promoting the idea of a children’s book award since 1931 and, mindful that the Americans had set up a children’s book award in 1922, the sub committee recommendation that a gold medal for a children’s book be awarded ever year was accepted on April 2nd 1936.

In the early years of the Carnegie Medal, the award sub committee was in Library Association control and management. Eileen Colwell did sterling work to bring children’s librarians into the equation. The records show that in 1968 the LA decided to have a one year experiment with YLG undertaking selection of the winners. The modern format for the award grew from this experiment.

CILIP forms the CKG Working Party, which administers the awards in cooperation with the Youth Libraries Group who select the judges and the chair of judges. All CILIP members participate by nominating titles for the long list. Records show much discussion and criticism of the awards. They are still the most prestigious children’s book awards in the UK and have developed well over the last 70 years. Many other awards have been started and they all have a differing role to play. Happily, CILIP now refer to them as their flagship awards. Librarians should be very proud of this, as they are uniquely the only UK children’s book medals which librarians’ award.

The photo shows the Carnegie and Greenaway short listed and winning authors and illustrators at the medal ceremony in 1990. Tim Bowler (top right in photo) won the Carnegie and the Kate Greenaway was won by Gary Blythe

1990 Ceremony

Updated: 06 May 2008