Thank you from the 2019 Chair of Judges

I step down as 2019 Chair of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals judging panel with a mixture of pride and reluctance. This year, and indeed the previous year shadowing Jake Hope, the 2018 Chair of judges, has been a whirlwind of activity. I’ve read, reviewed, blogged and met authors, illustrators, publishers and book lovers of all ages. I’ve been fortunate enough to receive invitations to book launches and events and to arrive home from work virtually each day to parcels of every shape and size. These contained books which have inspired and entertained me, made me think and laugh and which I’ve been able to share with friends, family, colleagues…and my fellow judges. It’s been a joy and an honour to be part of the medals’ heritage and to have represented Yorkshire and the Humber as a regional judge from 2011-2014. My incredible journey is almost over; by the time my final blog goes live on the shadowing website, the 2019 winners of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals will have been revealed and we’ll all have had a chance to shout about the presentation of the inaugural Shadowers’ Choice Awards.

The Shadowers’ Choice Awards are one of the most special features of this medal cycle. Shadowing has always been at the centre of the medals; you, as readers, invest the process with its heart and vitality. You give it a future. The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards shadowing scheme is unique among children’s book awards and it has been a treat to read your reviews, to look at the brilliant, creative entries for the video and certificate competitions and to meet some of you in person. I’m just as keen to discover which of the sixteen shortlisted titles you’ve voted for as your favourite written and illustrated books of the year. Will they be the same as the judges’ choices? You might appreciate some insight into our decisions; why did librarians select these two outstanding books as our Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal winners of 2019?

The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2019 was awarded to Elizabeth Acevedo for The Poet X. The judges recognised The Poet X for its innovative verse structure, which follows Xiomara’s emotional odyssey and offers a powerful, unflinching exploration of culture, family and faith.  Xiomara comes to life on every page and shows the reader how girls and women can learn to inhabit, and love, their own skin. She rails, cries, laughs, loves, prays, writes, raps and, ultimately, offers hope. The Poet X is a powerful novel on every level and a memorable, multi-faceted read.

The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2019 was awarded to Jackie Morris for The Lost Words (authored by Robert Macfarlane). The Lost Words overwhelmed judges by the illustrator’s ability to celebrate life cycles of the natural world in vivid detail. Every tiny movement and variegated fleck of colour is rendered exquisitely and gives vibrance to Robert Macfarlane’s spells. Jackie Morris’ illustrations tested our acuity and made us all think on a much deeper level about scale, colour and proportion; also, about representations of loss and absence. This is an astonishing book, which we feel deserves recognition and the highest accolades.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your shadowing experience and that you join us again in 2020. There are some wonderful books which will be eligible next year. New novels by past Carnegie Medal winners, shortlisted authors and nominees; among them, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Patrick Ness, Sarah Crossan, Angie Thomas, Katherine Rundell, Marcus Sedgwick, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Muhammad Khan, and Savita Kalhan. Stunning debuts and poetry are likely to feature, not to mention some powerful illustrated texts from artists who span the globe: UK, Australia, United States, Ireland, Spain, Canada, Switzerland and Argentina.

Thank you on behalf of the judging panel for sharing your views and insights with us throughout the past few months. I am certain the 83^rd and 63^rd years, respectively, for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals will continue to celebrate excellence, diversity and the power of reading!

Alison Brumwell
Chair of CKG Judges

Words, words, words…

Jessica Dunnicliff is the CKG Judge for YLG West Midlands

As the West Midlands judge and one based in Stratford upon Avon it seems only fitting to start this blog with some Shakespeare.

The Carnegie experience is all about words, from the power of them on the page to the joy of hearing them read out loud, and even the sheer number of them that we have all read. One of my fellow judges has taken great delight in calculating the number of words we have devoured whilst reading the nominated titles for Carnegie  – over seven and a half million of them!

All of the shortlisted Carnegie titles demonstrate the importance of words, particularly the importance of having a voice, using a voice and being heard. From Xiomara discovering the freedom of expression of poetry in Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X  to Ruth and Emily’s discussions about grief and loss in The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders.

There are equally powerful experiences for the reader on the Greenaway medal shortlist. For example, the effect of listening to the comforting refrain of You’re Safe with with me said out loud at bedtime, to the silence and sadness that The Lost Words explores when such words disappear for our dictionaries, our everyday vocabulary and our landscapes.

Since embarking on my career in libraries in 1997 I have always wanted to be a Carnegie and Greenaway judge. To be part of something that has winners from my own childhood,  favourites such as Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden and KM Peyton’s The Edge of the Cloud, to books I have championed and shared as a librarian such as Frank Cottrell Boyce Millions and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls. It has been an exhilarating and challenging experience that I would recommend to anyone.

One of the great pleasures of being a judge is hearing others discuss the books, from discussions with my fellow judges, hearing readers champion and argue for their favourites to reading the reviews on the website. I cannot wait to find out the result of the Shadowers Choice Award.

To borrow from Geraldine McCaughrean’s 2018 Carnegie Medal speech, throughout the nomination, longlisting, shortlisting and shadowing process I have been bombarded with words like gamma rays, steeped in words like pot plants stood in water, pelted with them and I have loved every minute of it. I cannot wait to repeat it next year.

 

I’m A Terrible Dancer

Dr Liz Chapman is the CKG Judge for YLG Yorkshire & Humber

In the early 2000s, I briefly met Seamus Heaney at a literary event, and for some reason felt the need to loudly announce to him that I couldn’t write poetry. No doubt weary of hearing this sort of thing, he assured me that if I could dance, I could write poetry. I explained that I am a terrible dancer.

Despite this, I have been inspired by the far more talented poets on the Carnegie (and Greenaway) shortlists to try my hand at a couple of poems for this blog post.

 

Crates of books, and more, and more

And more, arriving at my door

Reading till my eyes are sore

Notes on post-it pads galore

Eventual target: two-five-four

Ghosts, and guns, and grief, and gore

Inventing rhymes, surviving war

Eight great books that I adore!

 

Great escape into the wild

Refugees, and mermaid child

Elephant who guards you well

Emmeline and Christabel

Naming spells to conjure words

Adventure, loss, and bookish birds

Wolf that swallowed mouse and duck

Any topic, if you look

You’ll find it in a picture book.

I don’t think I will ever read a book in quite the same way again

Anne Thomas is the CKG Judge for YLG Wales

As I write, my 2 year stint as a Carnegie/Kate Greenaway judge is drawing to a close. The time has flown by. I’ve read and enjoyed all sorts of books and genres that I would never have chosen, leading to some surprising discoveries which I won’t forget in a hurry.

I’ve learned to appreciate picture books in a completely different way and am totally amazed by the work that goes into them. I don’t think I will ever read a book in quite the same way again; looking at a book in such detail has become a habit.

As we all know, books give you a different view of the world, introduce you to new experiences and can have a very therapeutic effect, which can change a reader forever, very powerfully. I have been to a session about the Books on Prescription scheme this week and it seems to me that some of the books I have read would easily be as powerful, albeit in a more understated, subconscious way. This has certainly been the case for me. There have been times when what I’ve read has stayed with me for a long time and has provided a different slant on a difficult situation. The lists contained some outstanding writing which provided food for thought.

This year I was fortunate enough to attend my first YLG conference in the autumn, which was inspirational from beginning to end, and a reminder of the most important aim of it all –  to get high quality literature into the hands of children and young people.

And last but not least, it has been a privilege to work with such dedicated and knowledgeable colleagues to produce the end result. So thank you for this opportunity – I will not forget it for a long time.

Timing is everything!

Lisa Penman is the CKG Judge for YLG Scotland

I was absolutely delighted to be chosen as the Scottish Carnegie and Kate Greenaway judge for 2018 and 2019, and the timing could not have been more perfect!  Coming from Fife, the home of Andrew Carnegie, it felt very fitting that I would be judging for the 80th celebration of the Carnegie medal and the fact that the 2018 winning book – Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean – was set in Scotland only cemented that feeling.

Wild at Heart created a special bench in celebration of Geraldine’s success, its design bringing her book to life. I was thrilled to hear that this celebratory bench would find its home at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, the world’s first ever Carnegie library, situated in the very town that lays claim to being the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie himself.

In celebration we held a special unveiling ceremony, which celebrated Geraldine’s success whilst also encompassing 100 years of the Carnegie legacy.  Geraldine demonstrated not only her great story-telling ability through reading extracts from her winning book, but also showcased her poetic finesse in her poem written about Andrew Carnegie. The audience was enthralled as she spoke about winning the Carnegie medal, not once but twice in her career, and how winning has inspired her. To top it all off, we also had musical memories from Star Spangled Scotsman as well some very moving folk songs from the Bowhill Players.

 

Geraldine later held a closed session with a local shadowing group, The Page Turners from Dunfermline High School. It was wonderful to see how engaged and full of questions they were, keen to learn from her wisdom.

The bench looks amazing in the garden of Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, and was used by visiting families right away.  It will always hold special memories for me whenever I visit in the future.

So not only did my first year as Scotland’s Carnegie and Kate Greenaway judging fall on the 80^th celebration of the Carnegie medal, bringing with it the chain of events that resulted in my hometown being gifted the winner’s bench; but my second and final year also falls on the 100^th anniversary of Andrew Carnegie’s death, bringing with it a calendar of celebrations. Timing is indeed everything!