Shortlists announced for the 2025 Carnegie Medals
The shortlists for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing and Carnegie Medal for Illustration (formerly the Kate Greenaway Award) were announced today, Tuesday 11 March, at a special event held at the London Book Fair.
From a longlist of 35, 16 books have been shortlisted in total, eight in each category. The judges are 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group. The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives, claim the organisers.
Lauren Child is shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration for Grey, twenty-five years after winning in 2000 for her first Charlie and Lola book. Chinese illustrator Yu Rong is shortlisted for a third time, and the shortlist also features two debut author-illustrators Theo Parish and Kate Rolfe.
The shortlist for the Carnegie Medal for Writing features Branford Boase Award winner Nathanael Lessore, for the second year running, this time for King of Nothing, while CLiPPA winner and FCBG Children’s Book Award favourite Matt Goodfellow is there too with the highly praised The Final Year.
Independent publishers and small presses have done particularly well with Firefly Press, Otter-Barry Books, UCLan Publishing all represented while Lantana have two books included on the Carnegie Medal for Illustration shortlist.
The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Illustration shortlist is (alphabetical by illustrator surname):
The Invisible Story by Wen Hsu Chen, written by Jaime Gamboa, translated by Daniel Hahn (Lantana)
Grey by Lauren Child, written by Laura Dockrill (Walker Books)
I Love Books by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Quarto)
Clever Crow by Olivia Lomenech Gill, written by Chris Butterworth (Walker Books)
Letters in Charcoal by Juan Palomino, written by Irene Vasco, translated by Lawrence Schimel (Lantana)
Homebody by Theo Parish (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Wolf and Bear by Kate Rolfe (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Flying High by Yu Rong, written by Cao Wenxuan, translated by Simone-Davina Monnelly and Jake Hope (UCLan Publishing)
The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist is (alphabetical by author surname):
Treacle Town by Brian Conaghan (Andersen Press)
The Things We Leave Behind by Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)
King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK)
Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain (Walker Books)
Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald (Faber & Faber)
All That It Ever Meant by Blessing Musariri (Zephyr, Head of Zeus)
Play by Luke Palmer (Firefly Press)
Ros Harding, Chair of Judges for The Carnegies 2025, said, ‘On behalf of the judging panel, I would like to offer a huge congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators. The two lists highlight the diversity and high quality within publishing for children and young people in the UK. Many of the titles on the writing shortlist deal with themes around masculinity and boys finding their place in society, and the shortlisted authors successfully tackle these big ideas through believable and relatable characters, whilst avoiding lecturing young people. The concept of stories plays an important part in the shortlisted books across both lists, whether this is about the joy that can be found through discovering books or about the stories we tell ourselves and others to make sense of the world around us. It is wonderful to see such an inclusive range of cultures, experiences, voices and illustrative styles feature in the shortlisted books and as a judging panel, we are so excited to be a part of introducing these incredible books to the shadowing groups.’
The winners will be announced and celebrated on Thursday 19 June at a live and streamed ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre, London. The ceremony will be hosted by Joseph Coelho, winner of the Carnegie Medal for Writing in 2024.
The winners will each receive a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize. The winners of the Shadowers’ Choice Medals – voted for and awarded by the children and young people – will also be presented at the ceremony. They will also receive a golden medal and £500 worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.
As the official book supplier, Scholastic are working with CILIP to donate shortlist packs to 10 schools in disadvantaged areas to allow them to also take part in the shadowing and widen the reach of engagement with the awards. Applications will be open from 24 – 31 March with packs to be sent out immediately afterwards to the selected schools.
As Shadowing resource partners, the English and Media Centre (EMC), the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) and the Youth Libraries Group have developed engaging reading resources for each shortlisted book, complete with activity ideas and discussion prompts. EMC focuses on writing resources, while CLPE provides resources on illustration. See here for more information about the Shadowing resource partners.
The 2025 Carnegie Awards are supported by three key sponsors: Scholastic, the official book supplier, with the shortlist available to order now; ALCS; and Sora, the new official digital partner. Named one of TIME’s Best Inventions, the Sora student reading app will provide free access to all available shortlisted digital books for shadowing groups, enhancing inclusivity and fostering a love of reading among young people. First News are the official media partner.
