Home › CATALOGUE › Award Reading Lists

Carnegie Medal in Literature

The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). CILIP also recognizes excellence in illustration, with the Kate Greenaway Medal.
 
Nominated books must be written in English and should first have been published in the UK during the previous year. Until 1969 the award was limited to books by British authors first published in England. The first non-British author to receive the award was Ivan Southall in 1972. The original rules also stated that an author could only win the Medal once. This rule was later changed to enable subsequent work by the same author to be included for consideration. The first author to be awarded a second Carnegie Medal was Peter Dickinson in 1981.
 
The Carnegie judging panel consists of 13 children's librarians from the Youth Libraries Group of CILIP. Nominated books are also read by students from many schools who send feedback to the judging panel. The award is announced in the June following the year of publication. The winner receives a golden medal and £500 worth of books to donate to a public or school library.
 

2013 Longlist

Cover Title Author
The Weight of Water The Weight of Water Sarah Crossan
A Greyhound of a Girl A Greyhound of a Girl Roddy Doyle
Maggot Moon Maggot Moon Sally Gardner
In Darkness In Darkness Nick Lake
Wonder Wonder R.J. Palacio
Midwinterblood Midwinterblood Marcus Sedgwick
A Boy and a Bear in a Boat A Boy and a Bear in a Boat Dave Shelton
Code Name Verity Code Name Verity Elizabeth Wein
 

2012 Winner CARNEGIE MEDAL 

"A MONSTER CALLS" by Patrick Ness  
"'Stories are wild creatures', the monster said. 'When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?'"
Rachel Levy, Children's Library Services Manager for Sutton Libraries and chair of the 2012 CILIP Carnegie judging panel said:
"A Monster Calls" is an exquisite piece of writing. It is a beautifully economical, structurally brilliant and lyrically descriptive account of a challenging episode in one child's life. One of our judges - bereaved at a young age - said she wished that she'd had "A Monster Calls" to read then, because while it describes the nature of grief with an extraordinary clarity it also fills the reader with a spirit of hopefulness and a love for life that is profound and lasting . We'd go so far as to say that this is one of the defining books of its generation".
 
Year Title Author
2012 A Monster Calls Patrick Ness
2011 Monsters of Men Patrick Ness
2010 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman
2009 Bog Child Siobhan Dowd
2008 Here Lies Arthur Philip Reeve
2007 Just in Case Meg Rosoff
2005 Tamar Mal Peet
2004 Millions Frank Cottrell Boyce
2003 A Gathering Light Jennifer Donnelly
2002 Ruby Holler Sharon Creech
2001 The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents Terry Pratchett
2000 The Other Side of Truth Beverley Naidoo

NB - If item is not on our catalogue please use our request for items not held form.