IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award 2024 short list

 

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books. Given every other year by IBBY, the Hans Christian Andersen Awards recognize lifelong achievement and are presented to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature.

The Author's Award has been given since 1956 and the Illustrator's Award since 1966. The Award consists of a gold medal and a diploma, presented at a festive ceremony during the biennial IBBY Congress.

The selection criteria include the aesthetic and literary qualities of writing and illustrating as well as the ability to see things from the child's point of view and the ability to stretch the child's curiosity and imagination. The complete works of the author and of the illustrator will be taken into consideration.

The IBBY Australia nominees for 2024 were Gary Crew (Writing) and Matt Ottley (Illustration)

2024 Shortlist

If you click here you will see each of the authors and illustrators listed on the IBBY.org page and you can read a brief bio and see their five submitted titles.

Authors

Marina Colasanti, Brazil  

Marina Colasanti was also nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Heinz Janisch, Austria

Heinz Janisch was also a nominee in the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

The King and the Sea

Lee Geum-yi, Korea

Bart Moeyaert, Belgium

In 2007, he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Antwerp and won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2019. He has been nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award six times and was a Finalist in 2002 and 2012. Bart Moeyaert won the 2019 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The award that is also known in literary circles as the “Nobel Prize for Youth Literature”, was presented at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. Winning the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award brings with it a prize of 480,000 euro.

Timo Parvela, Finland

Edward van de Vendel, Netherlands

He was nominated to the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2016.

Illustrators

Cai Gao, China

Illustration from 桃花源的故事 Taohuayuan de gushi 

(The Land of the Peach Blossom), apdapt. by Matsui Tadashi

Iwona Chmielewska, Poland

To date, she has published over 40 books, cooperating with authors and publishing houses in Poland and abroad. Her subtle style invites us to find sense in simple objects, as in Cztery zwykłe miski (Four ordinary bowls). She often uses pencils and crayons, cutting out pieces from old notebooks and journals and embroidering with one colour. Her drawings are clear, sometimes slightly naïve, realistic but poetic, always neat and studious. She leaves a lot of empty space in her illustrations and often uses blue to invoke melancholy in her stories. Iwona Chmielewska was a Finalist for the 2018, 2020 and 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Awards. 

Cztery zwykłe miski (Four Ordinary Bowls)

Nelson Cruz, Brazil

Nelson Cruz was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002 and 2022.

Se os tubarões fossem homens (If Sharks Were Men), text by Bertolt Brecht

Elena Odriozola, Spain

Elena Odriozola was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2018 and was a Finalist in 2020 and 2022.

Read more about this book here.

Sydney Smith, Canada

Sidewalk Flowers, by JonArno Lawson, is a wordless book that follows the path of a little girl through the city and was selected by IBBY Canada as welcoming gift for Syrian refugees arriving in Canada.

Paloma Valdivia, Chile

Her work as an author has been translated into more than 15 languages and has been awarded important prizes in the industry, both in Chile and abroad, including the White Raven Award in 2013 and 2018, and the New York Times Best Children’s Books of 2022. Here is an interview with Paloma Valdivia. 

Illustration from Nosotros (Nosotros Means Us)

Illustration from Es así (And So It Goes),