A Library member from 2 months old, my love of reading and chosen profession come as no surprise! I have worked in school, public and now university libraries for more than 15 years, with 13 spent working directly with young people, helping them to discover their own love of reading. 

My favourite part of being a Librarian is that my entire job revolves around people – getting to know them, offering support in their search for information or for stories, and helping them learn to use the library. I found so much joy in building diverse and inclusive school collections, representative of the experiences of the students and reflecting the world back to them. In public libraries, I was privileged to work with the most incredible people, providing a community and service open to all. From the mobile libraries in the glens to the busy town libraries, the service was there for everyone. Now, in a university, I manage an amazing team of Librarians educating and supporting new generations in the essential literacy and academic skills necessary to navigate an ever-changing information and media landscape.

Having witnessed the journey of a library user from so many perspectives, I am convinced that it all begins and ends with a lifetime love of reading. I am thrilled and deeply honoured to be representing Scotland as a Carnegie judge and can’t wait to see what the incredible writers and illustrators of the UK have to offer!

I owe my love of books and libraries to my mum, who took me to our small local library from an early age. I can still remember climbing up the stairs and walking across the wooden floor to the children’s section. Likewise, I can remember the lovely librarian at Holyhead library who shared my excitement when I was finally old enough to have 6 library tickets! After completing a degree in history and literature, and having my children, I decided to change my career and work in a public library (having spent so many years visiting them!). I have worked for Conwy Libraries for 12 years now, where I am currently a library manager.

I am one of those lucky people who love their job. I have always had a keen interest in children’s literature, and working in a library has increased this. It is so rewarding to recommend books to children and young people and help them find books that they enjoy. A key part of my work with children and young people over these past 12 years has been to help organise school visits and library activities for children, and more recently, to establish new Reading Friends groups for local children. My local Reading Friends group love shadowing the awards and look forward to it – they take it very seriously! I am thrilled to have been chosen as the regional judge for Wales – it is a huge honour, and I am really looking forward to it.

As a child, books were a source of comfort, courage and companionship. They were both shelter and shield, and my younger self would be thrilled that I now spend my days surrounded by stories.

I fell into librarianship like Alice down the rabbit hole over ten years ago, and never looked back. When a colleague mentioned the Carnegie shadowing scheme, I recalled with fondness that splash of gold on the book jackets of my younger years. I became a Shadowing Lead in 2017, before becoming the Welsh representative on the Carnegie judging panel for 2020/2021.

Following the completion of my chartership in 2022, my name was included on the CILIP 125 list. This was and continues to be an incredible honour. I am the current chair of YLG Wales, co-chair of the Carnegie Resources Team and proud co-founder of Not Judging But…, a shadowing group exclusively for former judges.

I am delighted to be appointed as Chair of Judges for the 90th anniversary of the Carnegie medals. It is an immense privilege to be part of a process that shapes the landscape of children’s literature, and to do so alongside such an accomplished team of fellow librarians is a professional highlight.

I feel I’ve come full circle, from starry-eyed seven-year-old admiring that dazzling gold sticker to voracious reader to librarian to Chair of Judges. Life rarely follows our meticulous plans and that can be terrifying, but I will always be grateful for this beautifully executed plot twist.

You might expect me to start by saying that I have loved reading since I was a small child. I did not love reading as a child. I don’t remember really getting into reading until my A Levels, when teen vampire novels offered me an escape from revision. At that time, I just wanted to avoid Chemistry homework; I didn’t know that it was the start of a journey towards curating a bookish life. Now I live and breathe books. 

In 2011 I graduated from the University of Leicester with a BA in American Studies, and then went on to study for an MA in Modern Literature. After this I completed my PGCE and started working as a Secondary English and Media teacher in Leicestershire. After a few years teaching I realised I was extremely jealous of our school librarian, and that maybe I would enjoy that role a lot more than being in the classroom. I was lucky enough to get a job as the Library Manager in a lovely secondary school where the students made me smile and laugh every single day. This experience led me to my dream job with the East Midlands Creative Learning Services as their Library Development Officer. Now I get to curate and develop a huge library and help schools across Leicestershire to deliver quality library learning.

There is no denying that encouraging young people to read is a battle, but it’s one that is being endlessly fought by an army of passionate people. We know and understand firsthand how crucial reading for pleasure is for the emotional and academic development of our young people. Right now, what the world needs is empathy and kindness, and reading is the best way to help build this. My passion is for inclusive and diverse fiction that helps to broaden young people’s window to the rest of the world, while acting as a mirror for their own feelings and experiences.

I am thrilled to be selected as a Carnegie Judge, and I cannot wait to read and reread all the amazing books included this year. 

I nearly fell off my chair when I saw an advertisement in 2024 for the role of Librarian at the Jersey College for Girls (JCG) where I am now happily ensconced.

At the time, I was working for the Jersey Government’s Education department as a Communications Manager. Previously I was a TV and print journalist in India for nearly 15 years and worked for a news agency in Berlin for 5 years. An avid reader from childhood I always thought librarians never retired but became part of an institution’s furniture, so librarian-posts would be hard to come by. I had neither the qualifications to be a librarian nor the work experience, but I worship books and am actually a book-worm in human form (wasn’t that enough?) and so this job had to be mine, I said to myself with steely determination, and mine it is!

JCG is a semi-private secondary school for girls and while I may be newbie to the profession, I have made up for all the years I was not a librarian by throwing myself headlong into the job. I’ve introduced lots of new and fun reading activities in the library; we have a steady stream of writers making presentations to and running workshops for our students; house points are awarded for books that are read and reviewed; we take our girls to literary events and book festivals, and a couple of our students are already published authors!

With a BA in English Literature, Journalism and Communications and an MA in World Heritage Studies, I also write articles for the local press about the power of books and reading. I have also been chosen to do a TEDx presentation about the transformative power of reading.

I have read many Carnegie medal-winning books, so can you imagine my joy at having been chosen to be on its august panel of judges! I am delighted by all the fabulous books I will get to read and, better still, discuss with my fellow-judges and booklovers.

I am looking forward to sharing my judging experience with our students who will already be so enriched by the shadowing process this year. This is a learning experience like no other and I’m so looking forward to this exciting chapter not only in my life but the lives of our students. 

I was motivated to apply for the post of Carnegie judge after attending last year’s YLG conference in Glasgow, to which I was lucky enough to be awarded a bursary by CILIP Ireland. I came away from this, my first conference, feeling inspired and enthused after meeting fellow librarians, as well as others from the wider book world.

I’m excited about the judging experience which will afford even greater opportunity to work with like-minded professionals and the support that brings, sharing ideas and experiences as we read and discuss wonderful new books and which, in turn, be transmitted to readers both in my own school and throughout Northern Ireland. I am particularly excited to embrace the challenge of reading and judging books based on their visual content and the impression made by illustration.

Promoting reading for pleasure has always been paramount to me, from my first incarnation as a teacher of English up to ‘A’ level for 18 years in a small Co. Tyrone grammar school, to my current position as Librarian in a large co-educational 11-18 grammar school in Holywood, where I’ve been for 9 years. I continue to prioritize to pupils, staff and parents the importance of reading for pleasure and its subsequent positive effects on mental wellbeing as well as benefitting all academic progress.

I am therefore delighted to undertake the role of 2026-27 Northern Ireland judge. I think it’s also an excellent opportunity to promote the place of libraries and librarians and the power there is in connecting books to children and the enormous effect that has on them as they develop.

Kelly Greenwood is a Learning Development Librarian at the University of the West of England. She represented the South West on the 2021-2022 Carnegie judging panel and is currently Chair of YLG South West. Kelly is a passionate  lifelong reader and advocate of the power of reading and stories, especially through books for children and young people. Kelly believes wholeheartedly that these books are for everyone, and are powerful tools for learning, wellbeing and pure enjoyment.

The Carnegies hold a very special place in Kelly’s heart and she is beyond honoured to return to the panel as Deputy Chair of Judges.

I have worked in libraries – mostly in HE- since the 1980s. I have only worked in school libraries since the beginning of 2025, but have volunteered with youth groups and run games clubs and societies for many years. This has included organising activities for the Fun Palaces public engagement initiative and creating events for summer reading schemes at public libraries.

I have been particularly keen to develop a love of reading for pleasure among teenage boys. My participation in the school Duke of Edinburgh Award activities has proved a good way to engage young people who might otherwise be less frequent library users. I knew it was worthwhile when I answered a question about natural history and a boy said: “of course Sir knows that – think how many books he reads!”. That team and their mates are now regular library users.

I’ve worked in libraries in the north of England for over 30 years, most of this time for County Durham library service.

I have lots of experience selecting and buying library books, and also organising events which encourage adults, children and families to visit and use libraries.

I’ve been County Durham’s lead on Northern Children’s Book Festival since 2016, taking authors into dozens of primary schools. I introduced a Festival of Local Children’s Authors to County Durham libraries in 2025. This has now become an annual event, in February half term.

I love looking at children’s books and their social history. I celebrated my 50th birthday in lockdown, and marked it by reading a children’s book a week, starting with one published in 1970, the year of my birth, reading one published every year since, and ending, 50 weeks later, with one published in 2020. Each of the books is summarised across the 50 weeks in my Instagram page FiftyYearShelfLife.

I am also a huge fan of Paddington, and collect first edition Paddington books. Everyone should be more Paddington!

I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t surrounded by books. Thanks to my parents, stories and reading were an integral part of my childhood, including weekly visits to the local library. Without a doubt, this contributed to my love of reading and meant that I harboured dreams to either run a children’s bookshop or become a children’s librarian.

Happily one of these dreams started to become a reality when I started working as a Library Assistant for Stoke-on-Trent Libraries in 2001. I looked for opportunities to work within the children’s part of the library whenever I could, leading rhyme times and helping librarians to run different book related activities. It was while I was working here that I successfully completed my Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies at Aberystwyth University, before moving on to become a librarian at Cheshire Education Library Service in 2010.

As well as carefully curating collections of books to send out to schools, I get to spend time visiting schools, helping to transform their school libraries into spaces that will inspire pupils to spend time perusing the shelves, finding a book to spark their interest. More recently, I’ve implemented a KS2 Book Award for schools in Cheshire. I’ve had positive experiences with participating schools, getting to see how engaged the pupils are and the impact that taking part has made on them. It’s a joy to work for a service that strives to promote a love of reading to children and young people, from nursery age right up to sixth form students and supporting teachers and school librarians as they promote reading in their own settings.

I’m thrilled to be representing the North West as a Carnegie Judge.

As a child of the 1970’s, I was lucky to have both a mum who read with me at every opportunity, and a thriving local library – a ‘muti-function hub’ at the heart of my community.

These ‘gifts’ became central to my own emerging reading identity. Aged 13, back in the days of card index boxes, when few ‘young adult’ books were published, and books reflective of my diverse Manchester community were even more scarce, I became a regular library volunteer wearing my ‘Librarian’ badge with pride!

I began work as a Social Worker with young adults, and despite the difference in roles, there were times where the ‘librarian purpose’ of ‘getting the right book, into the right child’s hand, at the right time’, was a positive support I could offer. In returning to children’s literature with my own young family, I rediscovered the joys of connection that can be found in shared reading experiences, and ten years ago in 2016, changed career paths to become a librarian, initially in a High School, and later within a Prep School library. Running Carnegie Shadowing Groups, in both settings, I saw how the power of supporting ‘agency’ and choice to engage with diverse stories, equips young people with vocabulary to articulate big emotions, shows gentle pathways to a wide range of human experience, and importantly, provides the building blocks for empathy development. In an increasingly divisive world, this is needed now more than ever. Now within the public library sector, I work with both young people and adult library users and see many points of crossover and connection. I am also excited to share the new Carnegies Shadowing format with a mixed age range of library users.

Having completed my first year as a judge in 2024, it is a privilege to be appointed as the Eastern Region judge for the 2027 Medals cycle.

I have worked at The Grammar School at Leeds first as a librarian, and then as Lead Librarian, for 9 years, and before this worked in Leeds public libraries and as a Teaching Assistant in a primary school. The best part of my job is working with Nursery all the way through to Year 13 students – spending a morning being the bear from I Want My Hat Back, talking about manga with enthusiastic Year 7s at lunch, and then digging in to academic research with Year 12s in the afternoon!

I love to think, talk, and write about books – I make a quarterly zine about children’s books that I distribute for free in my local area, and collect some of the writing at highfivebooks.substack.com. I also run Mean Words, a community book club for adults in Meanwood that has been going strong for 3 years and is a constant delight.

I have a degree in English Literature, an MA in Literature & Creative Writing, and two wonderful children with my wife Nat!

I think I always wanted to be a Librarian; the signs were there from an early age.

I used to stick little stickers on my books (I opted for an unusual cataloguing method of colour-coding by author!) and I loved my Saturday job at my local Library when I was a student, which later became a summer job during university.

After university, my journey took a different path. I worked in the corporate world for ten years, had children, considered re-training as a teacher, and began working in schools primarily helping children to read. That was when I realised, I could work in a school AND be a Librarian. I worked as a Library Assistant in a public secondary school for two years which confirmed that this was what I wanted to do. I have been the Librarian at Waddesdon Secondary School since 2021. One of my favourite things is welcoming the pre-school children who come over to read with our students, and another highlight is co-running the Carnegie Shadowing Group each year.

I am passionate about encouraging young people to enjoy reading for pleasure. In a world where we still see censorship, high levels of intolerance and prejudice, I believe it is as important as ever to encourage children to read books about different cultures and experiences. Rudine Sims Bishop’s famous quote about books being “mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors” remains a powerful statement when considering books for younger audiences. Representation is so important.

I am absolutely delighted to have been chosen to be a part in the Carnegie Medal judging process and to help shape the final selection of such an important award.

Libraries have been part of my life for as long as I can remember, starting with childhood memories of my mom buying me books. I even created my own “library,” complete with handmade tickets, and happily lent books to my younger siblings—a sign, perhaps, of the career to come.

Although school and studies eventually took me away from reading for pleasure, my passion was reignited years later when I began working for Birmingham Libraries.
As a Community Library Connector, I have the privilege of purchasing books, promoting reading through events and social media, organising author and storyteller visits, and arranging activities for local schools and the community. It’s incredibly rewarding to help people discover the library as a place of free access to stories, knowledge, and imagination.
The best part of working in libraries is the joy shared with our users—listening to people talk about their favourite reads and seeing the delight on children’s faces as they excitedly share their impromptu book reviews. Moments like these remind me why libraries matter so deeply.

I am truly honoured to have been chosen as the West Midlands Carnegie Judge, and I look forward with excitement to beginning this new chapter with my fellow judges.