Group Photo of the winners, from left Joseph Coelho, Tia Fisher, Aaron Becker

Verse novels win Medal for Writing and Shadowers’ Award for Writing at the Yoto Carnegies, one of the last remaining, and longest-running, national awards for books for children and young people.

Over 1000 attendees including librarians, publishers, sector leaders, and 600 school children attended the awards ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden.

Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho received the Medal for Writing, for The Boy Lost in the Maze (Otter-Barry Books), a “beautifully descriptive” novel in verse.

CILIP manages the Yoto Carnegies, which are the longest-running and best-loved book awards for children and young people, and four medals are awarded in two areas, illustration and writing.

The winner of the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing was Tia Fisher, for her debut novel told in verse, Crossing the Line.

Crossing the Line is the fourth verse novel to win the Yoto Carnegie Medal for writing since it launched six years ago in 2019, sending a powerful message that young people have a real interest in poetry and verse.

In a double win for Aaron Becker, his “beautifully crafted” and “universal” wordless picture book The Tree and the River, won both the judges’ Medal for Illustration and the Shadower's Choice Medal.

In the build-up to the awards judges select a shortlist which is then presented to groups of school children (called shadowers as they ‘shadow’ the judging process), who select two titles for the Shadowers’ Choice Award - one for Writing and one for Illustration.

Over 30,000 school children participate in this process, in conjunction with their school libraries.

The judges, coordinated by CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group, also select a winner for the writing and illustration medals.

The ceremony was hosted by author and actress Manjeet Mann, who highlighted the fundamental role libraries play in raising literacy and instilling a passion for reading:

“It was at my local library in Walsall that I discovered books, a love for reading and through those books a whole world that I could disappear into.

“It was also a safe space, a calming space, a place that I could escape to, should the chaos of home get too much.

“My school library offered a similar refuge. It was essential in supporting my studies.

“A place I could always find a quiet place to sit and study during break times and after school and use the computer because again…we didn’t have one at home.

“This was essential as it got me through my SATS my GCSE’s and my A levels.”

Find out more about the winners and their works