Carnegies 2024 longlists announced

The longlists for the Yoto Carnegies 2024 awards for writing and illustration for children and young people, have been announced. The 36 titles on the longlists include 19 for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, and 18 for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration. 

The shortlists for the 2024 Yoto Carnegies will be announced at a panel event at London Book Fair on Wednesday 13 March with the overall winners announced on Thursday 20 June at a live stream event in London.

The Carnegie medals celebrate outstanding reading experiences in books for children and young people. They are unique in being judged by librarians, with the Shadowers' Choice Medal voted for by children and young people. The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives.

The longlists were chosen from 129 nominations by the judging panel which includes 12 children's and youth librarians from CILIP's Youth Libraries Group.  While the awards are open to writers and illustrators globally, British talent dominates the Medal for Writing longlist. Common themes within the longlisted books include hidden worlds and alternate realities, forgotten histories highlighted or reimagined, and environmentalism and the power of nature.  This year's longlists include one title longlisted in both Medal categories - Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean (David Fickling Books). 

The 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing longlist is (alphabetical by author surname):

The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander (Andersen Press)
The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell (Usborne)
Away with Words by Sophie Cameron (Little Tiger)
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll, illustrated by Lauren Child (Simon & Schuster)
The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner (Otter-Barry Books)
Choose Love by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Petr Horáček (Graffeg)
Electric Life by Rachel Delahaye (Troika Books)
Until the Road Ends by Phil Earle (Andersen Press)
Digging for Victory by Cathy Faulkner (Firefly Press)
Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher (Bonnier Books UK)
Wild Song by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books)
Boy Like Me by Simon James Green (Scholastic)
Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)
Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK)
The Swifts by Beth Lincoln, illustrated by Claire Powell (Penguin)
Dogs of the Deadlands by Anthony McGowan, illustrated by Keith Robinson (Oneworld Publications)
Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean (David Fickling Books)
Ravencave by Marcus Sedgwick (Barrington Stoke)
Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Macmillan Children's Books)

The 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration longlist is (alphabetical by illustrator surname):

The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker (Walker Books)
Wolves in Helicopters by Paddy Donnelly, written by Sarah Tagholm (Andersen Press)
April's Garden by Catalina Echeverri, written by Isla McGuckin (Graffeg)
The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham (Walker Books)
Deep by Stephen Hogtun (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
Lost by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Quarto)
Colours, Colours Everywhere by Sharon King-Chai, written by Julia Donaldson (Macmillan Children's Books)
The Skull by Jon Klassen (Walker Books)
The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy (Walker Books)
Tyger by Dave McKean, written by SF Said (David Fickling Books)
To the Other Side by Erika Meza (Hachette Children's Group)
The Midnight Panther by Poonam Mistry (Bonnier Books UK)
The Bowerbird by Catherine Rayner, written by Julia Donaldson (Macmillan Children's Books)
Global by Giovanni Rigano, written by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin (Hachette Children's Group)
The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish by Chloe Savage (Walker Books)
My Baba's Garden by Sydney Smith, written by Jordan Scott (Walker Books)
The Boy Who Lost His Spark by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, written by Maggie O'Farrell (Walker Books)
What Feelings Do When No One's Looking by Aleksandra Zając, written by Tina Oziewicz (Pushkin Press)

Maura Farrelly, Chair of Judges for The Yoto Carnegies 2024, said: "Huge congratulations to all of our longlisted authors and illustrators.  These are books that play with language and show how powerful words and illustrations can inspire imaginations and encourage empathy as well as helping young readers make sense of an increasingly confusing world and give them hope for a brighter future."

Debut novelists longlisted

Five debut authors feature on the longlist for the Medal for Writing, including Cathy Faulkner for Digging for Victory, a World War II free verse novel about everyday heroism; PRH WriteNow alum Beth Lincoln for her quirky mystery adventure The Swifts; and Pari Thomson for Greenwild: The World Behind the Door, a richly imagined, fantasy ecological adventure. Nathanael Lessore is longlisted for Steady for This, a hilarious and heartwarming story about a wannabe rapper, and Tia Fisher for Crossing the Line, a powerful verse novel based on a true story about teenagers being swept up into county lines.

What Feelings Do When No One's Looking is one of two debuts longlisted for the Medal for Illustration, by Polish illustrator Aleksandra Zając, written and translated by Polish author Tina Oziewicz; the picture book gives younger children an introduction to understanding emotions and empathy. Chloe Savage's debut, The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish, is a beautifully detailed adventure into the unknown.

Common themes explored

Nature and the environment are central to The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy, an adventure book celebrating learning opportunities in the great outdoors; wordless picture book The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker which looks at the human impact on the natural world; and Global by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano, a compelling graphic novel about the real effects of climate change. Stephen Hogtun's picture book, Deep, follows a whale calf and his mother through the oceans. For the Medal for Writing, Electric Life by Rachel Delahaye takes an alternate approach, imagining a 'perfect' future society which is entirely digital with no natural world.

Historical fiction features heavily in the Medal for Writing longlist, with another two WWII-set stories - Until the Road Ends by Phil Earle is inspired by the Blitz's most decorated bomb-dog, and Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan highlights the forgotten heroes of the Grand Mosque of Paris who helped hide and protect Jews. The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll, illustrated by Lauren Child, is a feminist reworking of the Hans Christian Andersen classic, based on a real Match Factory Strike in 1888 East London. Set in 1900s Philippines, Wild Song by Candy Gourlay is a culturally rich and authentic exploration of identity revealing a hidden history and a journey to America - similarly to Kwame Alexander's The Door of No Return, which in lyrical verse portrays a young West African boy and his capture into slavery.

Finding our place in the world is depicted in Choose Love by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Petr Horáček, which uses poetry to poignantly highlight the real-life experiences of refugees while To the Other Side by Erika Meza strikingly portrays a journey of two young refugee children. Journeys and finding your place in the world are also explored in Lost by breakout talent Mariajo Ilustrajo, The Midnight Panther by Poonam Mistry, and The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell.

Similar themes of self-discovery and identity are explored in Boy Like Me by Simon James Green, a 90s teen romance in the midst of Section 28 where gay relationships can't be mentioned in schools, and Away with Words by Sophie Cameron - a highly original celebration of language and feelings.

Illustrative styles in the Carnegie Medal for Illustration promote emotional literacy, creativity and tools to cope, with colour used to indicate mood or atmosphere - from the nostalgic, classic watercolours in The Boy Who Lost His Spark by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, written by Maggie O'Farrell, to the bright colours representing hope introduced through seedlings growing in Catalina Echeverri's illustrations in April's Garden by Isla McGuckin, to the drama and darkness of the nightmarish wolves by Paddy Donnelly for Sarah Tagholm's Wolves in Helicopters.

Find out more:  yotocarnegies.co.uk | #YotoCarnegies24 | @CarnegieMedals