Hans Christian Andersen Award | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Outstanding and lasting contribution to children's literature |
Presented by | International Board on Books for Young People |
First awarded | 1956 |
Website | ibby.org |
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". [1] The writing award was first given in 1956, the illustration award in 1966. The former is sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for children's literature".
The awards are named after Hans Christian Andersen, a 19th-century Danish author of fairy tales, and each winner receives the Hans Christian Andersen Medaille (a gold medal with the bust of Andersen) and a diploma. Medals are presented at the biennial IBBY Congress.
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) was founded by Jella Lepman in the 1950s. [2] The Hans Christian Andersen Award was first proposed in 1953 and awarded three years later, in 1956. [3] It was established in the aftermath of World War II to encourage the development of high-quality children's books. The award was set to be given biennially and was initially awarded for individual works that had been published in the preceding two years. [4] By 1962, the award's formal criteria were amended "to a living author who is judged to have made a lasting contribution to good juvenile literature by the outstanding value of his or her work. The author's complete works, in particular those in fiction, will be taken into consideration in awarding the medal." [5]
Runners up were listed in 1960, 1962, and 1964. In reflection of what IBBY considered to be a trend of increasing quality in picture books, [5] the award was expanded to include illustrators in 1966. [3] From 1966 to 1996 runners up were named as "Highly Commended". In 1998, this was replaced with a list of three to four "Finalists". [5] It is sometimes called the "Little Nobel Prize" or the "Nobel Prize for children's literature" [6] [7] and has been cited as the "most important activity" of IBBY. [2] Between 1992 and 2022, the patron of the awards was Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. [8] A special issue of Bookbird , a journal published by IBBY, is published as the award is given out. [9]
The winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards is selected by a jury which is put together by IBBY's executive committee. The Jury's president is elected by IBBY's General Assembly. There were initially seven jurors, [5] but this was increased to eight and in 2000 to ten. Two years later, the jury was split with five members focusing on writing and the other five handling illustrations. The jurors are expected to be competent in children's literature and ideally represent a diverse group. It generally takes six months to review candidates and select a winner. [10]
Jella Lepman served as Jury President for the first three Andersen Awards, 1956 to 1960, and remained on the jury until her death in 1970, as the President of IBBY and then as its honorary president. Current four-year terms cover two award cycles. Other notable presidents have included Virginia Haviland (1970–1974), Patricia Crampton (1982–1986), and Ana Maria Machado (1986–1990). [11]
The award's regulations read: "The Hans Christian Award is presented every two years by IBBY to an author and to an illustrator, living at the time of the nomination, who by the outstanding value of their work are judged to have made a lasting contribution to literature for children and young people. The complete works of the author and the illustrator will be taken into consideration in the selection process". The award is explicitly designed to be an "international" work, and it is not explicitly given to a certain country. [5]
IBBY has many member nations—all countries are eligible for membership. Every member nation has its own organization, known as a "national section", that is active across the country. All member nations can nominate candidates for consideration in the Hans Christian Andersen Awards. [12] Some member states will repeatedly nominate the same author or illustrator, others nominate a new candidate each time. [13] To nominate a candidate, a dossier is prepared that provides information including a list of works and biographical sketch. The portfolio must have between five and ten books by the candidate, which are sent to jurors, IBBY's president, and the "Jury Secretary". [5] There were sixty-six nominees from thirty-three countries for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen awards. [14]
Each winner receives the Hans Christian Andersen Medaille, a gold medal with the bust of Andersen, and a diploma. [2] These medals are presented at the biennial IBBY Congress. [1]
The winners are most often residents of Europe and North America; the first winner from outside that region was Farshid Mesghali in 1974, from Iran. [13] After receiving the award. many authors and illustrators have their works gain wider recognition, particularly in the form of more translations. [19] As of 2021 [update] there have been award winners from 25 countries. Americans have received the most writing (6) and total (7) recipients. Germans have won four illustration awards.
Country | Illustration | Writing | No. of winners |
---|---|---|---|
United States | 1 | 6 | 7 |
Germany | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Japan | 2 | 3 | 5 |
United Kingdom | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Czechoslovakia | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Brazil | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Denmark | 2 | 1 | 3 |
France | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Austria | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Australia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Italy | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Sweden | — | 2 | 2 |
Argentina | — | 1 | 1 |
Canada | 1 | — | 1 |
China | — | 1 | 1 |
Czech Republic | 1 | — | 1 |
Finland | — | 1 | 1 |
Israel | — | 1 | 1 |
Iran | 1 | — | 1 |
Ireland | — | 1 | 1 |
Korea | 1 | — | 1 |
New Zealand | — | 1 | 1 |
Norway | — | 1 | 1 |
Spain | — | 1 | 1 |
Poland | 1 | — | 1 |
Russia | 1 | — | 1 |
Soviet Union | 1 | — | 1 |
Uri Orlev born Jerzy Henryk Orłowski, was a Polish-born Israeli children's author and translator. He received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1996 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature", the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works in 1972 and the Bialik Prize for literature in 2006.
Aidan Chambers is a British author of children's and young-adult novels. He won both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). For his "lasting contribution to children's literature" he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.
Virginia Esther Hamilton was an American children's books author. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great (1974), for which she won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the Newbery Medal in 1975. Her works were celebrated for exploring the African-American experience, what she called "Liberation Literature."
Jutta Bauer is a German writer and illustrator of children's books. For her "lasting contribution" as a children's illustrator she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2010.
Michael Foreman is a British author and illustrator, one of the best-known and most prolific creators of children's books. He won the 1982 and 1989 Kate Greenaway Medals for British children's book illustration and he was a runner-up five times.
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an international nonprofit organization committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland.
Peter Sís is a Czech-born American illustrator and writer of children's books. As a cartoonist his editorial illustrations have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Esquire, and The Atlantic Monthly. In 2012 he received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his "lasting contribution" as an illustrator of children's literature.
Cecil Bødker was a Danish writer and poet, most known for young adult fiction books about the character "Silas". For her "lasting contribution to children's literature" she received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Writing in 1976.
Bohumil Říha was a Czechoslovak writer best known for children's books. For his lasting contribution to children's literature he received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1980.
Elizabeth Ann Mrazik Cleaver was a Canadian illustrator and writer of children's books. For her contribution as a children's illustrator she was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1972.
Mitsumasa Anno was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature."
IBBY Canada is the Canadian National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People, a non-profit organization.
John Burningham was an English author and illustrator of children's books, especially picture books for young children. He lived in north London with his wife Helen Oxenbury, another illustrator. His last published work was a husband-and-wife collaboration, There's Going to Be a New Baby, written by John and illustrated by Helen for "ages 2+".
The International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich is a library that specializes in the collection of children and youth literature from around the world in order to make them available to the public, focusing on the international community. This library is the largest of its kind worldwide, and has been operating since June 1983, in Blutenburg Castle in the Munich district Obermenzing, before this time the library was located in Schwabing.
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organisation to bring books and children together. In 1966, IBBY Australia was established and Ena Noël OAM became its first president and remained in this role for over 20 years.
Phillipena Noël, best known by the name Ena Noël, was an inspirational school teacher and advocate for children's literature and library services to children and young adults. Ena Noël's name is synonymous in Australia with children's literature and with IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People.
Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature is the official refereed journal of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). It is published quarterly and distributed by Johns Hopkins University Press.
José María Sánchez-Silva y García-Morales was a Spanish writer. He received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1968 for his contribution to children's literature. He is best known for his novel Marcelino Bread and Wine (1953) which was filmed in 1955, as Miracle of Marcelino.
Květa Pacovská was a Czech illustrator and writer. She received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1992 for her "lasting contribution to children's literature".
The Jella Lepman medal is an award made to individuals and institutions that have made lasting contributions to children's literature. It is named after Jella Lepman (1891-1970), founder of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich. It was created in 1991 to celebrate her 100th birthday. It was reinstated in 2005.