Carnegie Medal for Writing

The Medal is named after the Scottish-born American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), who founded more than 2,800 libraries in the English-speaking world, including at least one in more than half of British library authorities. Both awards were established and administered by the Library Association, which was succeeded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in 2002. From 2022 to 2024, the award was sponsored by the audio technology company Yoto and was called the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing. As of 2025 the awards are sponsored by Scholastic and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). == Process ==

CILIP members may nominate books each September and October, with the full list of valid nominations published in November. The longlist, chosen by the judges from the nominated books, is published in February. The judging panel comprises 12 children's librarians, all of whom are members of CILIP's Youth Libraries Group (YLG). The shortlist is announced in March and the winner in June. Multiple-author anthologies are excluded; however, co-authored single works are eligible. ==Winners==

From 1936 to 2025, 86 medals were awarded. No eligible book published in 1943, 1945, or 1966 was considered suitable by the judging panel. Forty-one winning books were illustrated in their first editions, including every one during the first three decades. Six from 1936 to 1953 were illustrated or co-illustrated by their authors; none since then. ==Carnegie of Carnegies==

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie Medal in 2007, CILIP created a 'Living Archive' on the Carnegie Medal website with information about each of the winning books and conducted a poll to identify the nation's favourite Carnegie Medal winner, to be named the "Carnegie of Carnegies". The winner, announced on 21 June 2007 at the British Library, was Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (1995). It was the expected winner, garnering 40% of the votes in the UK, and 36% worldwide. 70th Anniversary Top Ten • David Almond, Skellig, (Hodder, 1998) • Melvin Burgess, Junk, (Penguin, 1996) • Kevin Crossley-Holland, Storm, (Egmont, 1985) • Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light, (Bloomsbury, 2003) • Alan Garner, The Owl Service, (HarperCollins, 1967) • Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street, (Penguin, 1937) • Mary Norton, The Borrowers, (Penguin, 1952) • Philippa Pearce, ''Tom's Midnight Garden'', (Oxford, 1958) • 'Philip Pullman, Northern Lights, (Scholastic, 1995)' • Robert Westall, The Machine Gunners, (Macmillan, 1975) Northern Lights, with 40% of the public vote, was followed by 16% for ''Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and 8% for Skellig by David Almond. As those three books had won the 70-year-old Medal in its year 60, year 23, and year 63, some commentary observed that Tom's Midnight Garden'' had passed a test of time that the others had not yet faced. == Honorees ==

Before 2007, the selection process for the award was structured such that the year in which the award was given aligned with the year of publication for the books being considered. The books would be nominated and chosen during the year following their release, with the winners being announced and the medals presented in the early months of the subsequent year. 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Beginning in 2003, commendations were not presented, only short and longlists; only the shortlists are presented below. 2010s 2020s == Repeat honorees ==

Eight authors have won two Carnegie Medals, which was prohibited for many years. Additionally, several authors have been shortlisted and/or commended multiple times. The table below provides a list of authors who have been honoured, sorted first by number of honors and the rank of the honor (e.g., win is higher than commendation), then by the authors' last name. For the sake of ease, shortlists are considered of equal rank to commendations, though lower than high commendations. The table was last updated in March 2024. == Multiple award recipients ==

Six books have won both the Carnegie Medal and the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, which was inaugurated 1967.(Dates are years of UK publication, and Carnegie award dates before 2006.) • Alan Garner, The Owl Service (1967) • Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972) • Geraldine McCaughrean, A Pack of Lies (1988) • Anne Fine, Goggle-Eyes (1989) • Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials 1: Northern Lights (1995) • Melvin Burgess, Junk (1996) Only A Monster Calls, written by Patrick Ness and illustrated by Jim Kay, has won both the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals (2012). Only The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009) has won both the Carnegie Medal and the equivalent American award, the Newbery Medal. Sharon Creech, who won the Carnegie for Ruby Holler (2002), previously won the Newbery and two UK awards for Walk Two Moons (1994). Four writers have won both the Carnegie and the US Michael L. Printz Award. The Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognises the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". The four writers are David Almond, Aidan Chambers, Geraldine McCaughrean, and Meg Rosoff. Chambers alone has won both for the same book, the 1999 Carnegie and 2003 Printz for the novel ''Postcards from No Man's Land''. In its scope, books for children or young adults, the British Carnegie corresponds to the American Newbery and Printz awards. == See also ==