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Carnegie 2025 longlists announced

Thursday, 13 February 2025   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

In the UK, the longlists for the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Carnegie Medal for Illustration have been announced.

The 35 longlisted titles (19 for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, 16 for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration), drawn from 119 entries by a panel of librarians, are:

The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing

  • On Silver Tides (Sylvia Bishop, Andersen Press)
  • You Could Be So Pretty (Holly Bourne, Usborne)
  • I Am Wolf (Alastair Chisholm, Nosy Crow)
  • Treacle Town (Brian Conaghan, Andersen Press)
  • Sisters of the Moon (Mary-Louise Fitzpatrick, Faber Children’s)
  • The Things We Leave Behind (Clare Furniss, S&S)
  • The Final Year (Matt Goodfellow, illus by Joe Todd-Stanton, Otter-Barry Books)
  • Island of Whispers (Frances Hardinge, illus by Emily Gravett, Too Hoots)
  • If My Words Had Wings (Danielle Jawando, S&S)
  • King of Nothing (Nathanael Lessore, Bonnier Books UK)
  • Little Bang (Kelly McCaughrain, Walker)
  • Glasgow Boys (Margaret McDonald, Faber Children’s)
  • Trigger (CG Moore, Little Island Books)
  • All That It Ever Meant (Blessing Musariri, Zephyr)
  • Play (Luke Palmer, Firefly Press)
  • Fallout (Lesley Parr, Bloomsbury Children’s)
  • The Wrong Shoes (Tom Percival, S&S)
  • Louder Than Hunger (John Schu, Walker)
  • Us in the Before and After (Jenny Valentine, S&S).

The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Illustration

  • The Last Zookeeper (Aaron Becker, Walker)
  • The Invisible Story (Wen Hsu Chen, written by Jaime Gamboa, translated by Daniel Hahn, Lantana)
  • Grey (Lauren Child, written by Laura Dockrill, Walker)
  • Flower Block (Hoang Giang, written by Lanisha Butterfield, Puffin)
  • I Love Books (Mariajo Ilustrajo, Frances Lincoln Children’s)
  • The Dictionary Story (Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston, Walker)
  • Clever Crow (Olivia Lomenech Gill, written by Chris Butterworth, Walker)
  • Dive, Dive Into the Night Sea (Thea Lu, Walker)
  • Letters in Charcoal (Juan Palomino, written by Irene Vasco, translated by Lawrence Schimel, Lantana)
  • Homebody (Theo Parish, Macmillan Children’s Books)
  • The Bridges (Tom Percival, S&S)
  • Wolf and Bear (Kate Rolfe, Too Hoots)
  • Flying High (Yu Rong, written by Cao Wenxuan, translated by Simone Monnelly, UCLan Publishing)
  • Do You Remember? (Sydney Smith, Walker)
  • Grandad’s Star (Rhian Stone, written by Frances Tosdevin, HarperCollins)
  • The Wild (Yuval Zommer, OUP).

Ros Harding, chair of judges for the Carnegies 2025, said: ‘These fantastic lists highlight the exciting landscape of publishing for children and young people. It has been an incredible honour to chair a dedicated, passionate and respectful panel of judges through the debates over the nominated titles. They have arrived at two longlists that celebrate a diversity of ideas, themes, viewpoints, language and illustrative styles. There is a strong focus on identity in all its many forms. These are books that will both challenge and comfort children and young people, as they navigate the world around them.’

Shortlists will be announced on Tuesday 11 March, and winners on Thursday 19 June. Winners receive a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5000 (AU$9906) cash prize. Winners of the Shadowers’ Choice Medals – voted for and awarded by children and young people – will also be presented; winners receive a golden medal and £500 (AU$990) worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.

The Carnegie Medal for Writing, established in 1936, is awarded annually to a children’s book author whose writing creates an outstanding reading experience. 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.

In the 2024 awards, the Carnegie Medal for Writing was awarded to 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).

More information about the longlist is available on the award website.

 

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