Nominations for the 2026 Carnegies announced

Nominations have been announced for the 2026 Carnegies, the UK's longest-running children's book award, with 125 nominations across both awards, the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Carnegie Medal for illustration.

Some 62 books are in contention for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, which is awarded to a book written in English for children and young people that sparks an outstanding reading experience, and 65 books for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration, which celebrates an outstanding reading experience through illustration. This year two books have been nominated for both Medal categories, Tosh's Island and Fia and the Last Snow Deer.  Find a full list of the nominated books, below.

Key Dates for the awards

Tuesday 10 February 2026: Carnegie Medals Longlists announced
Tuesday 10 March 2026: Shortlists announced (15:45 GMT)
Wednesday 11 March 2026: Shadowing begins
Tuesday 23 June 2026: Carnegie Medal Winners announced

Nominations for the awards, which are organised by library body CILIP, come from librarians, as well as nine external bodies: BookTrust, CLPE, Commonword, the English and Media Centre, IBBY, National Literacy Trust, RNIB, The Reading Agency, and CILIP's School Libraries Group. Each nominated book will now read by the 14 members of the 2026 judging panel, comprising librarians from CILIP's Youth Libraries Group (YLG).

Carnegies pilots a longlist shadowing resource

Schools and other youth organisations can register now to take part in the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme, where reading groups discuss and evaluate the shortlisted books from March 2026. 

This year, in response to next year's planned National Year of Reading, groups will also be able to shadow the longlisted books for the first time, with age guidance, tailored resources and support in building their own book selections. The pilot initiative is designed to make it easier for reading groups of all ages to take part.

Groups that register for the Carnegies Shadowing Scheme will receive a free publicity pack when the shortlists are announced in March. Scholastic pre-orders are also open, offering discounts on longlist and shortlist book packs for schools and libraries.

Groups can register with Sora, CILIP's digital reading partner, to access the 2025 shortlisted books for free, and gain free access to the 2026 shortlists, when these are announced.

Carnegie Medal for Illustration Nominated Titles 2026

Huw Aaron, Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob (Puffin)

Jon Agee, George and Lenny Are Always Together (Scallywag Press)

Grahame Baker-Smith, Flickering Fires (Templar Books)

Ewa Beniak-Haremska, (illustrator) Sarah Merrett, (author) A Place of a Thousand Wishes (Everything With Words)

Aliaa Betawi, (illustrator) Maysa Odeh, (author), A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child's Search for Home (The O'Brien Press)

Jenny Bloomfield, (illustrator) Anna Wilson (author), Be Back Soon (Andersen Press)

John Bond, How Long is that Dog? (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Peter Brown, The Wild Robot On The Island, (Piccadilly Press)

Jill Calder, (illustrator) Jackie Kay (author) Coorie Doon (Walker)

Melissa Castrillon, (illustrator) Benjamin Zephaniah, (author) Leave the Trees, Please (Magic Cat Publishing)

Pippa Curnick, (illustrator) Onjali Q Rauf, (author) The Girl at the Front of the Class (Hodder Children's Books)

Clara Dackenberg, (illustrator) Uje Brandelius, (author) Nichola Smalley, (translator) The Playdate (Lantana)

Linh Dao (illustrator) Chi Thai (author), The Endless Sea (Walker)

Rébecca Dautremer, (illustrator) Charis Ainslie (translator) The Ordinary Life of Jacominus Gainsborough (Post Wave Children's Books)

Aimée de Jongh, William Golding, Lord of the Flies: The Graphic Novel (Faber & Faber)

Flora Delargy, Gold Rush, (Wide Eyed Editions) Paddy Donnelly, (illustrator) Lu Fraser, (author) Ava and the Acorn (Hodder Children's Books)

Paddy Donnelly, Badger Books (Fox & Son Tailers) (The O'Brien Press)

Cathy Fisher, (illustrator) Jackie Morris, (author) The Summer Puppy (Otter-Barry Books)

Dermot Flynn, (illustrator) Eilish Fisher, (author) Fia and the Last Snow Deer (Puffin)

Dermot Flynn, (illustrator) Sine Quinn, (author) The Faerie Isle (Walker)

Fred Fordham, (illustrator) Ursula Le Guin, (author). A Wizard of Earthsea (Walker)

Emily Gravett, (illustrator) Frances Hardinge, (author) The Forest of a Thousand Eyes (Two Hoots)

Mini Grey, (illustrator) Ted Hughes (author) The Coming of the Iron Man (Faber & Faber)

Maria J Guarda, (illustrator) Melanie Cordova (translator) Paloma Flies Away (Walker)

Logan Hanning (illustrator) L.D. Lapinski, (author) Kickflip (Orion Children's Books)

Chris Haughton, (illustrator and author) Loonie Park (contributions by) The History of Information (DK Books)

Martin Impey, Blitz: One Family's War (Harbour Moon Publishing)

Jarvis Our Pebbles (Walker) Guilherme Karsten (illustrator) Eoin McLaughlin, (author) Once I Was a Tree (Nosy Crow)

Baljinder Kaur, (illustrator) Mick Jackson, (author) The Sleeper Train (Walker)

Satoshi Kitamura, Hannah and the Violin (Scallywag Press)

Kengo Kurimoto, Wildful (Pushkin Children's Books)

Alex Latimer, Don't Think of Tigers (Andersen Press)

David Litchfield, (illustrator) Anne Booth, (author), Come Back, Gosling! (Templar Books)

Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet, (illustrator) Sarah Ardizzone (translator) That Day (Pushkin Children's Books)

Jason Lyon, (illustrator) Rashmi Sirdeshpande, (author) Amazing Asia: An Encyclopedia of an Epic Continent (Wide Eyed Editions)

Leo Marcell, (illustrator) Linda Sargent, and Joe Brady (authors) Tosh's Island (David Fickling Books)

Alea Marley, (illustrator) Mariesa Dulak, (author) The Silver Shadow (Walker)

James Mayhew, A Symphony of Stories (Otter-Barry Books)

Steve McCarthy, (illustrator) Eoin Colfer, (author) Beanie the Bansheenie (Walker)

Alice Melvin, Mouse by the Sea (Thames and Hudson)

Ian Morris, (illustrator) Tom Read Wilson, (author) Wonderful Words That Tell A Tale (Words and Pictures)

Oboh Moses, (illustrator) Monique Duncan, (author) Freedom Braids (Lantana)

Chris Mould, (illustrator) H. G. Wells, (author) Chris Mould's War of the Worlds (Faber & Faber)

Neetols (illustrator) John Moore, (author) Ditching Saskia (Flying Eye Books)

Mai K. Nguyen, Anzu and the Realm of Darkness (Piccadilly Press)

Billy Partridge, Hupo and the Wonder Thief (Flying Eye Books)

Benjamin Phillips, (illustrator) Michael Rosen, (author), One Day: A True Story of Courage and Survival in the Holocaust (Walker)

Mikey Please, The Café at the Edge of the Woods (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Seng Soun Ratanavanh, (illustrator) Joelle Veyrenc, (author) Katy Lockwood-Holmes, (translator) The Paper Bridge (Floris Books)

David Roberts, We Are Your Children (Two Hoots)

Kate Rolfe, Wiggling Words (Two Hoots)

Tamsin Rosewell, (illustrator) Berlie Doherty (author) The Seamaiden's Odyssey (Fox & Ink Books)

Dan Santat (illustrator) Neil Sharpson, (author) Don't Trust Fish (Andersen Press)

Chloe Savage, The Search for Carmella (Walker)

Natalia Shaloshvili, Bear (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)

Natalia Shaloshvili, Pavlo Gets the Grumps (Walker)

Tull Suwannakit, Higher Ground (New Frontier Publishing)

Wenjia Tang, (illustrator) Catherine Ard (author). Into the Volcano (Flying Eye Books)

Britta Teckentrup, (illustrator) Thomas Harding, (author) The House on the Canal (Walker)

Sam Usher, Clang! (Templar Books)

Brendan Wenzel, Good Golden Sun (Scallywag Press)

Fiona Woodcock, (illustrator) Sean Taylor (author) Five Little Friends (Walker)

Yu Rong (illustrator) Zhu Yongxin (author) Jake Hope, (translator) I Love Mummy, I Love Daddy (CYPI Press)

 

Carnegie Medal for Writing Nominated Titles 2026

Tasneem Abdur-Rashid, Odd Girl Out (David Fickling Books)

Kwame Alexander, Black Star (Andersen Press)

David Almond, The Falling Boy (Hodder Children's Books)

Katya Balen, Ghostlines (Bloomsbury Childrens Books)

Zillah Bethell, Vanishing Edge (Firefly Press)

Sylvia Bishop, Under Golden Seas (Andersen Press)

Sita Brahmachari, Phoenix Brothers (Oxford University Press)

Peter Burns, Shadow Thieves (Farshore)

Susan Cahill, (author) Holly Ovenden, (illustrator) The World Between the Rain (Everything With Words)

Sophie Cameron, A Flash of Neon (Little Tiger)

Eibhlis Carcione, (author) Holly Ovenden, (illustrator) Black Gables (Everything With Words)

Brian Conaghan, Stealing Happy (Bloomsbury)

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, (author) Steven Lenton, (illustrator) The Blockbusters! (Macmillan Children's Books)

Jenny Downham, and Louis Hill, Let The Light In (David Fickling Books)

C.G.. Drews, Don't Let The Forest In (Hodder Children's Books)

Leon Egan, Listen Closely (Harper Fire)

Anne Fine, On the Wall (Old Barn Books)

Eilish Fisher, (author) Dermot Flynn, (illustrator) Fia and the Last Snow Deer (Puffin)

Tia Fisher, Not Going To Plan (Hot Key )

Nicola Garrard, On the Edge (Old Barn Books)

Jamila Gavin, My Soul, A Shining Tree (Farshore)

Matt Goodfellow, (author) Joe Todd-Stanton, (illustrator) The First Year (Otter-Barry Books)

Rob Harrell, Popcorn (Piccadilly Press) Alice Hoffman, When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary (Scholastic)

Bex Hogan, Nettle, (Zephyr) William Hussey, The Boy I Love (Andersen Press)

Liz Hyder, (author) Tom de Freston, (illustrator) The Twelve (Pushkin Children's Books)

Anna James, Chronicles of Whetherwhy: The Age of Enchantment (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Clara Kumagai, Songs for Ghosts (Zephyr)

Patrice Lawrence, People Like Stars (Scholastic)

Nathanael Lessore, What Happens Online (Hot Key Books)

Olivia Levez, Silver (Hot Key Books)

Jack Mackay, (author) Ben Joel Price, (illustrator) Gloam (Rock the Boat)

Ross MacKenzie, The Uninvited (Andersen Press)

Geraldine McCaughrean, Under a Fire-Red Sky (Usborne)

Anthony McGowan, The Beck (Barrington Stoke)

Kel Menton, A Fix Of Light (Little Island Books)

Ross Montgomery, Small Wonder (Walker)

Blessing Musariri, When It's Your Turn for Midnight (Zephyr)

Joanna Nadin, Birdy Arbuthnot's Year of 'Yes!' (Fox & Ink Books)

Patrick Ness (author) Tim Miller (illustrator) Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody (Walker)

Hiba Noor Khan, The Line They Drew Through Us (Andersen Press)

Beth O'Brien, Wolf Siren (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Gráinne O'Brien, Solo (Little Island Books)

Kenneth Oppel, Best of All Worlds (Guppy Books)

Luke Palmer, Live (Firefly Press)

Jenny Pearson, Shrapnel Boys (Usborne)

Emily Randall-Jones, The Scream of the Whistle (Chicken House)

Louisa Reid, Handle With Care (Guppy Books)

Jason Reynolds, Twenty-Four Seconds from Now (Faber & Faber)

J.P. Rose, Birdie (Andersen Press)

Amara Sage, Girl, Ultra-Processed (Faber & Faber)

Linda Sargent and Joe Brady (authors) Leo Marcell, (illustrator) Tosh's Island (David Fickling Books)

Josh Silver, Traumaland (Rock the Boat)

Kim Smejkal, The Dandelion Riots, (Pushkin Children's Books)

Manon Steffan Ros, Feather (Firefly Press)

Jeremy Strong, (author) Heegyum Kim, (illustrator) Fox Goes North (Scholastic)

Pil Van Martin, The Spick and the Span (HarperCollins Children's Books)

Chris Vick, Shadow Creatures (Zephyr)

Rob Walton, (author) Makwana Reena (illustrator) Please Don't Read the Footnotes Please (The Emma Press)

S.F. Williamson, A Language of Dragons (Harper Fire)

Anna Woltz, (author) Michele Hutchison, (translator) Under the London Sky (Rock the Boat)

 

The Carnegies are sponsored by the Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS), Sora, and Scholastic.