The Yoto Carnegies Partner with England’s Book Town for New One-Day Festival

yotocarnegies.co.uk | #YotoCarnegies24 | @CarnegieMedals

Wednesday 21 February 2024: The Yoto Carnegies, the UK’s longest running and best loved book awards for children and young people, today announced a partnership with Sedbergh, England’s Book Town, to deliver a free day-long festival of events celebrating outstanding reading experiences for children and young people.

Scheduled for Tuesday 23rd April, the Yoto Carnegies Book Town Takeover is made possible through a partnership with Sedbergh School, Sedbergh Prep School, and Pen&Inc magazine, a champion of diversity and inclusion in children’s literature.

The festival’s daytime programme will cater to school groups, featuring sessions with the 2024 Yoto Carnegies shortlisted illustrators, renowned children’s authors, publishing experts specialising in material for young readers, and experienced group leaders for the Carnegies Shadowing Scheme. This national reading initiative involves groups reading the shortlisted books and voting for their favourites. Additionally, there will be a dedicated session for educators and librarians to explore shadowing as an avenue to foster a love for reading and engage with diverse book collections.

The evening session, set on World Book Night, will be open to the public and will feature a headline appearance by Anne Fine, a two-time recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Writing. Notably, Fine authored ‘Madame Doubtfire,’ later adapted into the blockbuster film starring Robin Williams. Anne Fine was the first novelist to be honoured as the UK Children’s Laureate (2001-2003) and has contributed to various genres, including picture books, chapter books, middle-grade fiction, young adult fiction, and adult novels.

Anne Fine said, “Winning the Carnegie Medal is the highlight of any children’s writer’s career, (may I boast that I’ve done it twice?), and such is this prize’s importance that it’s fitting that this year there’s a partnership between the Yoto Carnegies and Sedbergh, England’s Book Town. I very much look forward to speaking at this day long festival, which will promote books and reading for children and young people.”

Book your spot for the free evening event with Anne Fine here.

To register your interest to attend the Yoto Carnegies Book Town Takeover daytime sessions in Sedbergh, England’s Book Town, please contact carnegies@sedberghschool.org.

The shortlists for the 2024 Yoto Carnegies will be announced at a panel event at London Book Fair beginning at 9.15am on Wednesday 13 March. The winners’ ceremony will be hosted live and streamed online on Thursday 20 June.

Pen&Inc magazine and the Yoto Carnegies are partnered in their mission to create a better, more inclusive world through reading for pleasure, and are both a part of CILIP, the Library and Information Association.

Yoto, the innovative screen-free audio platform for children, proudly headlines the Awards as the main sponsor. The Yoto Carnegies also receive support from ALCS, with Scholastic serving as the official book supplier and First News as the official media partner.

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For further information on The Yoto Carnegies 2024 please visit: www.yotocarnegies.co.uk
#YotoCarnegies24 | @CarnegieMedals

The Yoto Carnegies logo can be downloaded here.

For media and interview requests, please contact:
Annabelle Wright or Sabina Maharjan at ed public relations on
annabelle@edpr.co.uk or sabina@edpr.co.uk or 020 7732 4796.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

KEY DATES

• Wednesday 13 March 2024: Shortlist announced and Shadowing begins
• Thursday 20 June 2024: Winners announced at a live-streamed ceremony

About The Yoto Carnegies

• The Yoto Carnegies celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged solely by librarians.
• The Yoto 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 Yoto 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 Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medals for Writing and Illustration.
• In 2023 the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing was awarded to a book in translation for the first time in the awards almost 90-year history, The Blue Book of Nebo (Firefly Press), written and translated by Manon Steffan Ros. Jeet Zdung won the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration for Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear, (Kingfisher, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Books). This was the second consecutive year that a graphic novel has clinched the prize.
• The 2023 Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medals voted for by children and young people were awarded to I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys for the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing, and The Comet by Joe Todd-Stanton for the Yoto Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Illustration.

About Sedbergh Book Town

• Sedbergh England’s Booktown became internationally recognised in 2005, joining Hay on Wye in Wales and Wigtown in Scotland.
• Run by a charity, The Sedbergh Booktown Literary Trust, 2024 marks a major renaissance for the project. Sedbergh is thrilled to partner with the Yoto Carnegies and Sedbergh School in this live event for the primary school children of the north west, building the readers of the future.
• The 2024 Sedbergh Book Town Festival ‘What are Words Worth?’, the annual exploration of writing and ideas, will run from 25^th May to 1^st June.
• Further 2024 events will include a writing competition for children and adults from July – November, a September festival for amateur writers, poets, and playwrights, and a crime novel event ‘Crime in the Country’ from 11^th to 13^th October.

About Pen&Inc. Magazine

• Pen&inc. magazine champions inclusion and representation in children’s book publishing, celebrating authors, poets, illustrators, and characters from diverse and under-represented backgrounds.
• Published twice a year (Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter), each issue includes interviews and features with new and established figures in children’s publishing, covering all genres and age-groups from pre-school to young adult, fiction, and non-fiction.
• Launched in 2019 by CILIP, the library and information association, Pen&inc. supports libraries and schools to build representative book collections through its free listings guide.
• Subscriptions to Pen&inc. help support its mission to improve diversity in young people’s books, while allowing a free-to-access digital version for all at www.cilip.org.uk/penandinc

About Sedbergh School

• Sedbergh School is one of the leading independent boarding schools in the UK. Founded in 1525, the School is known for its achievements in academic success, sports, music and performing arts. Along with Sedbergh Preparatory School, it educates boys and girls between age 3 and 18.
• Notable alumni include Simon Beaufoy, Academy Award winning screenwriter, Brendan Bracken, Churchill’s Minister of Information, who funded the restoration of the School’s 18^th century Winston Churchill Library, and the Brontë sisters, who attended the Clergy Daughter’s School which later became Sedbergh Preparatory School.

About CILIP, the library and information association

• The Yoto 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 2024, the judging panel includes 12 volunteer judges from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group and Chair of Judges Maura Farrelly. Find out more about this year’s judges here.

About Yoto

• Yoto is an interactive audio platform for kids. Yoto offer a catalogue of over 1,200 stories, songs, activities and more to inspire creative play and learning without a screen. The carefully connected audio players, Yoto Player (3rd Generation) and Yoto Mini, put kids safely in control. No cameras. No microphones. No ads.
• Inspired by Montessori principles, Ben Drury and Filip Denker founded Yoto in 2017. Yoto Player was designed with renowned design agency, Pentagram, and launched in early 2020. Yoto Mini, the portable audio player, launched in late 2021. The new and improved third generation Yoto Player arrived in summer 2023.
• Now available worldwide, Yoto has won awards and accolades from critics, parents and children alike. TIME Magazine even named it one of the Best Inventions of 2020 and Yoto Mini won a prestigious D&AD Pencil in 2022. Yoto has just been named one of Bloomberg’s Top Start Ups to watch. Yoto were named the second fastest growing tech company by Deloitte in 2023.
• Yoto’s platform features both award-winning original content and audio that has been licensed or co-created with partners. These partners include PRH, Macmillan, Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner Music, Mattel, Disney, LEGO, Roald Dahl Story Company, HarperCollins, Hachette, Bonnier and Scholastic.

About Scholastic

• For 100 years, Scholastic Corporation has been encouraging the personal and intellectual growth of all children, beginning with literacy. Having earned a reputation as a trusted partner to educators and families, Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, a leading provider of literacy curriculum, professional services, and classroom magazines, and a producer of educational and entertaining children’s media. The Company creates and distributes bestselling books and e-books, print and technology-based learning programs for pre-K to grade 12, and other products and services that support children’s learning and literacy, both in school and at home. With 15 international operations and exports to 165 countries, Scholastic makes quality, affordable books available to all children around the world through school-based book clubs and book fairs, classroom libraries, school and public libraries, retail, and online.
• The longlist is available to order on their shop now. Learn more at www.scholastic.com.

About ALCS

• The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers’ work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity; ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. It represents over 120,000 members, and since 1977 has paid over £650million to writers.
• For more information visit www.alcs.co.uk.

About First News

• First News is the official media partner for the Yoto Carnegies 2024.
• 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.
• For more information visit www.firstnews.co.uk.