Thursday 23 January 2025: The Carnegies are delighted to announce they have renewed their media partnership with award-winning children’s news provider First News for 2025.
First News will collaborate with the Carnegies team from longlist to winner’s ceremony with a particular focus on coverage for, and engagement with, the 40,000 + young people taking part in the Shadowing scheme which sees over 2,000 schools and libraries ‘shadowing’ the judging process, debating the books, and deciding on their Shadowers’ Choice winners from each Medal shortlist.
The Carnegies are the UK’s longest running and best-loved children’s book awards, recognising outstanding reading experiences created through writing and illustration in books for young people. The Awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with the books that will change lives, which aligns with First News’ mission to promote reading for pleasure.
Hannah Timson, Editorial Manager of First News, said:“We are delighted to be partnering with the Carnegies for another exciting year. The Awards offer a great opportunity for young people to share their thoughts and opinions on a whole range of incredible books. Reading for pleasure is such an important topic and one that both First News and the Carnegies champions. We can’t wait to see the results of this year’s Shadowing process and cover each stage of the awards in our paper.”
CILIP’s Carnegie Awards Manager, Mackenzie Warner said: “We are thrilled to renew our partnership with First News for the 2025 Carnegies. Their commitment to engaging young readers aligns perfectly with our mission to inspire and empower the next generation to create a better world through books and reading. Together, we look forward to amplifying the voices of young people participating in the Shadowing scheme and celebrating the books that spark a lifelong love of reading.”
For media and interview requests, please contact: Katie Cregg at ed public relations on katie@edpr.co.uk or 020 7732 4796.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About The Carnegies
The Carnegies celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged solely by librarians.
The Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded annually to a children’s book author whose writing creates an outstanding reading experience. It was established in 1936 in memory of the Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919).
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (previously known as the Kate Greenaway Medal), established in 1955, is awarded annually to a children’s book illustrator whose artwork creates an outstanding reading experience.
Each year thousands of reading groups in schools and libraries in the UK and overseas get involved in the Awards, with children and young people ‘shadowing’ the judging process. They read, discuss and review the books on the shortlists, get involved in reading related activities in groups, and vote for their favourite books to win the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medals for Writing and Illustration.
In 2024, the Carnegie Medal for Writing was awarded for the first time to a Black British author, and then Children’s Laureate – Joseph Coelho – for his novel in verse The Boy Lost in the Maze illustrated by Kate Milner (Otter-Barry Books). The 2024 Carnegie Medal for Illustration and Shadowers’ Choice Award for Illustration were both awarded to Aaron Becker in a double-win for his wordless picture book The Tree and the River (Walker Books). The Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing went to Tia Fisher for her debut novel told in verse, Crossing the Line (Bonnier Books UK).
About First News
First News provides children and young people with a reliable and age-appropriate news source through their award-winning newspaper, app and learning resources.
First News was founded by Nicky Cox MBE and Sarah Thomson in 2006 with a mission that remains true today: to offer trustworthy, age-appropriate news to children, enhance critical thinking skills, promote reading for pleasure, and nurture global citizenship.
First News is the number one national newspaper for children reaching over 2.6 million children every week at home and at school.
Expertly written by award-winning journalists, First News takes the fear our of sensationalised world events that children hear by providing a balanced and truthful view of the world, carefully, and sensitively written to explain the background to stories in the news.
About CILIP, the library and information association
The Carnegies are managed by CILIP, the library and information association. The Medals are awarded annually by CILIP and the Youth Libraries Group (YLG) with longlists announced in February, shortlists in March and the winners announced at a ceremony in June.
CILIP is the leading voice for the information, knowledge management and library profession. Our goal is to put information and library skills and professional values at the heart of a democratic, equal and prosperous society.
CILIP is a registered charity, no. 313014. The YLG is a special interest group of CILIP who work to preserve and influence the provision of quality literature and library services for children and young people, both in public libraries and school library services.
YLG has 12 regional committees covering all of the UK, and each committee advertises and democratically recruits a judge to represent them on the panel of judges. Each judge serves a two-year term and each year the panel is a unique mix of new and experienced judges led by the Chair of Judges. Following the independent diversity review of the Awards, CILIP introduced a co-opting procedure so that if this recruitment process does not result in a sufficiently diverse and representative judging panel, up to two judges will be co-opted to join the panel.
In 2025, the judging panel includes 14 volunteer judges from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group and Chair of Judges Ros Harding. Find out more about this year’s judges here.