Winners of 2018 Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Awards announced

The winners of the 2018 Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award (CICLA) have been announced.

Zhang Mingzhou, president of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), was honoured as Special Contributor of the Year. Elected to the role in September 2018, Zhang is the first Chinese representative to chair the organisation since its founding in 1953.

French author Hervé Tullet was also awarded Best Author of the Year. Judges said: ‘Hervé doesn’t consider himself an illustrator, he is more a creator of concepts, as we can see from his unique picture books such as Press Here (A&U).’

The other winners are:

Best literary work of the year

• Reindeer Through Six Seasons (Gerelchimeg Blackcrane, Tomorrow Publishing House)
• A-Lian (Tang Sulan, Hunan Children’s Publishing House )
• Blooming with Happiness in the Dulong Area: Our Minzu Primary School (Wu Ran, Aurora Publishing House)
• Teacher Turtle 1: A Beach on Campus (Cheng Wei, Zhejiang Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House)
• That Year in the Blizzard (Liu Hu, Shanghai Children’s Press)

Best picture book of the year

• The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse (Mac Barnett, ills by Jon Klassen, Walker Books)
• Where Have the Tickets Gone? (Liu Xugong, Global Views)
• Grandma’s Magic of Cloth Scraps (Ao Zi, 21st Century Publishing Group)
• The Day War Came (Nicola Davies, illus by Rebecca Cobb, Walker Books)
• Animalphabet (Julia Donaldson Illustrator: Sharon King-Chai, Pan Macmillan)

Best single piece of the year

• ‘Impressions of the Insects’ (Jin Bo, Shao Nian Wen Yi magazine)
• ‘Paper Kiln’ (Peng Xuejun, Children’s Literature magazine)
• ‘Tonight, You’re Kings of Fourteen’ (Xiao Ping, Children’s Literature magazine)
• ‘Father Ram’ (Zhang Zhongcheng, Children’s Literature magazine)
• ‘Draw a Moon for the Lonely Night Sky’ (Jia Ying, Shao Nian Wen Yi magazine).

Announced at the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF), the award is open to books from around the world and ‘aims to foster international cultural exchange, encourage the production of beautiful and inspiring children’s contents, and promote healthy reading habits around China’. Named after the Shanghainese children’s writer, translator and educator Chen Bochui, the CICLA is one of the longest-running literary prizes in China.

For more information about the award, visit the website.

Category: International news Junior