carnegies.co.uk | #Carnegies2025 | @CarnegieMedals
Thursday 19 June 2025: The winners of the UK’s longest-running and best-loved book awards for children and young people, The Carnegies, managed by CILIP, the library and information association, were announced today in front of an audience of over 600 young people at a live-streamed ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s award-winning Matilda The Musical. The character of Matilda’s beloved librarian Mrs Phelps welcomed the audience to the theatre, with the event expertly hosted by the 2024 Carnegie Medal for Writing winner, and former Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho.
The Carnegies celebrate achievement in children’s writing and illustration and are unique in being judged by an expert panel of children’s and youth librarians, including 14 librarians from CILIP: the library and information association’s Youth Libraries Group. Each year thousands of reading groups in schools and libraries in the UK and around the world also get involved in the Awards, with young people ‘shadowing’ the judging process, debating and choosing their own winners from this year’s shortlist.
Ros Harding, Chair of Judges for The Carnegies 2025, said:
“Glasgow Boys is an immersive and visceral read that completely draws the reader into the present and past lives of Finlay and Banjo. It is a book that will stay in the minds of the reader long after finishing it. Clever Crow is full of stunning, innovative and detailed illustrations that elevate this fascinating non-fiction book into something even more special that demands reading over and over again. Congratulations to the 2025 winning authors and illustrators and a huge thanks to the judging panel who give up so much time and energy for these awards. Thanks also to all the young readers who took part in the Shadowing programme and to the teachers and librarians who support them in discovering the very best of writing and illustration for young people.”
Scottish author Margaret McDonald formerly worked for the NHS and started writing Glasgow Boys when she was a student. She has weaved her own experience of Crohn’s Disease and pain medication dependency after bowel surgery into Glasgow Boys, as well as drawing on her working-class background and experiences of being a first-generation university student. McDonald worked with a care experienced children’s therapist to ensure her depiction of the care system was authentic. The judges praised her “sensitive” and “emotionally honest” exploration of the lack of support young people get when leaving care, which is balanced with a message of “hope” for the future offered by the boys’ friendship. Featuring Scots dialect, Glasgow Boys is a homage to McDonald’s vibrant, multicultural hometown, with judges describing the setting as “very well realised and explored” and “a real reflection of how our world is”. Margaret McDonald will be donating her prize money to Action for Children, one of the UK’s leading children’s charities. Driven by love, it takes action, so vulnerable children and young people living in care and out of care don’t miss out on a safe and happy childhood.
Carnegie Medal for Writing winner, Margaret McDonald, said:
“I’m utterly delighted to be the recipient of this year’s Carnegie Medal for Writing. With Glasgow Boys, it was my intention to bring into the light things that are often overlooked as a working class, disabled and first-generation university student, but mainly the difficulties of making your way through a world that is essentially not built for you. We don’t often speak of these invisible barriers but navigate them regardless. It was something that was deeply important for me to showcase the strength, the community, the humour and the love of the people within Glasgow Boys, including but not exclusive to care experienced people, healthcare workers, hospitality staff, queer people, immigrants, and the working class. My central characters Banjo and Finlay feel as real to me as everyone here right now. They are genuinely standing up here with me to accept this award, and I want to thank the judges for championing them and their story, for giving them this platform and welcoming them into such a legacy as the Carnegies.”
Olivia Lomenech Gill is a British fine artist and illustrator who was previously shortlisted for the Medal for Illustration for Where My Wellies Take Me, written by Michael and Clare Morpurgo. Lomenech Gill’s interest in birds and the natural world stems from her scientist father and a childhood enjoyment of studying zoological collections at the Natural History Museum in Oxford.
Clever Crow features “stunning” endpapers depicting nineteen different coloured eggs drawn to scale, and the corresponding adult birds, introduce readers to members of the crow family from around the world, whilst a dark colour palette used throughout creates a “raw, organic and earthy feel” appropriate to the birds and synergistic with the text. The judges praised Lomenech Gill’s “immersive artwork” which gives a sense of movement and “energy” to the playful crows and the “clever” use of “deliberately messy techniques” such as ink splats, torn notebook pages and water staining to give the birds a “playful” and “childlike quality” which “links them to the reader.” Olivia Lomenech Gill plans to use her prize money on a project to support schools, education, and libraries in Palestine.
Carnegie Medal for Illustration winner, Olivia Lomenech Gill, said: “I have always had an immense respect for librarians and the vital work they do, so I cannot think of a greater honour than being selected for this award, and I am very grateful to the judges for choosing me as this year’s winner. Working on ‘Clever Crow’ was a great opportunity to learn more about these very clever and sociable birds, and I hope that the book might encourage readers to look at crows from a different viewpoint than the rather negative stereotype as portrayed in fairy tales, horror movies, and Hitchcock!”
The winners of the Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration will each receive a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize. The winners of the Shadowers’ Choice Medals – voted for and awarded by the children and young people – will also receive a golden medal and £500 to donate to a library of their choice, generously provided by the English and Media Centre for the writing winner and by CILIP for the illustration winner.
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For further information on The Carnegies 2025 please visit: www.carnegies.co.uk
#Carnegies2025 | @CarnegieMedals
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Emma Dowson or Katie Cregg at ed public relations on edowson@edpr.co.uk or Katie@edpr.co.uk or 020 7732 4796.
For the winners’ speeches, images of the winning authors and illustrators, book jackets, illustrated spreads and social media assets, please click here. This Drive will be updated with further images from the winners’ ceremony in due course.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Winning author and illustrator biographies and book synopses
Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald (Faber).
A striking debut exploring the power of identity and the Scottish working class. This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope.
Neither Finlay or Banjo can remember the last time they had a hug. Against all odds, 18-year-old Finlay has begun his nursing degree at Glasgow University. But coming straight from the care system means he has no support network. How can he write essays, focus on his nursing placement and stop himself from falling for the most beautiful boy at university when he’s struggling to even feed himself?
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Banjo is trying to settle into his new foster family and finish high school, desperate to hold down his job and the people it contains. But his anger and fear keep boiling over, threatening his already uncertain future.
Underpinning everything is what happened three years ago in their group care home, when Finlay and Banjo were as close as brothers until they stopped speaking. If these boys want to keep hold of the people they love, they have to be able to forgive one another. More than this, they must find a way to forgive themselves.
Margaret McDonald is a 27-year-old Scottish author from Glasgow. Margaret worked for the NHS after shielding for a year, during which time she finished her Masters in English literature from Glasgow University with Distinction. She also has a First Class BA (Hons) from Strathclyde University, where she studied writing. She expertly weaves her experiences into the novel, of her working-class Scottish background, her pain medication dependency, her experience working for the NHS, her partner’s work with social services, their plans to become foster carers and much more.
Margaret has previously been published in the disability-focused magazine Breath and Shadow as well as the prose and poetry magazines Bandit Fiction, Bubble Lit, In Parentheses, and The Manifest Station. She worked with a children’s therapist who grew up in the care system, as well as a Polish author, on ensuring the care system and immigrant Polish identity in Glasgow Boys were authentic.
Clever Crow illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill, written by Chris Butterworth (Walker Books.)
For young bird-watchers and enthusiasts of the natural world comes a unique, surprising and beautifully illustrated non-fiction picture book about these fascinating birds. Whatever the changing seasons and evolving world presents to the crow, they use their adaptability, discerning memory and crafty problem-solving techniques to overcome every possible hurdle. Young readers will be bowled over by these unassuming creatures they come across every day and will find a new-found respect for the birds that are smart, clever, crafty and playful, just like them.
Olivia Lomenech Gill is a fine artist and illustrator. She has illustrated Clever Crow, written by Chris Butterworth; worked with Michael and Clare Morpurgo on Where My Wellies Take Me, shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway medal; illustrated the new edition of J. K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; and Medusa, written by Jessie Burton, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing. Olivia lives in Brittany, France.
King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK)
Anton and his friends are the kings of Year 9. They’re used to ruling the school and Anton wears the crown. The other kids run away when he’s about but that’s the way he wants it – he’s got a reputation to live up to after all.So when he gets into serious trouble at school, he doesn’t really care, but his mum most definitely does. She decides it’s time for Anton to make some new friends and join the Happy Campers, a local activity group. Anton would quite literally rather do anything else, especially when he finds out Matthew, the biggest loser in school, is also a member. But after Matthew unexpectedly saves Anton’s life, Anton figures maybe this kid is worth a shot. Teaching him some game is the least Anton can do to repay the debt. As the boys strike up an unlikely friendship, Anton finds himself questioning everything he thought was important. Does he want ruling the school to be his crowning glory or should he set his sights on better things?
Nathanael Lessore was born in Camberwell, south-east London, as one of eight children to French and Madagascan parents. Although he has spent most of his life in Peckham, Nathanael has also lived in Paris, Strasbourg and Singapore. Nathanael became a marketing executive after graduating from the University of East London, believing at the time that a Creative Writing degree destined him for a career in marketing. He is the author of Carnegie shortlisted Steady For This and King of Nothing, teen novels that allow him to show life in south-east London as the funny, warm, adventurous world that wasn’t always represented as such when he was a child. Nathanael has won the Branford Boase Award and Diverse Book Award for Steady For This and the Jhalak Children and YA’s Prize for King of Nothing.
Homebody by Theo Parish (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Homebody tells the story of Theo, a non-binary author-illustrator, who grew up in a household with a loving family and relaxed gender roles. But the pressures of the outside world to fit into society’s expectations made life feel confusing. As they grew older so these pressures to conform to gender expectations increased. High school brought clashes over uniform, pretending to look and be who they weren’t, and the pressure of keeping their secret. Art school brought new opportunities, new friends, and the excitement of discovering comic con free from the fear of judgement. Inspired by superheroes, role-playing games and comic con, they finally find confidence to rebuild their image in a way that feels truly themself.
Theo Parish is an author/ illustrator currently living in Norwich with their three cats. Driven by a passion for creating the kinds of stories they longed to see as a kid, Theo’s work is inspired by their love of fantasy and their experiences moving through the world as a queer and neurodivergent person. They can usually be found playing tabletop RPGs, building pillow forts or making friends with the neighbourhood cats.
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