Congratulations to the following authors and illustrators who are on the shortlist for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Authors: Marie-Aude Murail from France, María Cristina Ramos from Argentina, Fatima Sharafeddine from Lebanon, Peter Svetina from Slovenia, Annika Thor from Sweden, and Margaret Wild from Australia.

Illustrators: Beatrice Alemagna from Italy, Ryoji Arai from Japan, Iwona Chmielewska from Poland, Gusti from Argentina, Suzy Lee from the Republic of Korea, and Sydney Smith from Canada.

Junko Yokota from the USA was elected as the 2022 Jury President and she led the 10-member Jury comprised of: Antoine Al Chartouni (Lebanon), Marilar Aleixandre (Spain), Evelyn Arizpe (Mexico/UK), Mariella Bertelli (Canada), Tina Bilban (Slovenia), Viviane Ezratty (France), Jiwone Lee (South Korea), Robin Morrow (Australia), Jaana Pesonen (Finland) and Cecilia Repetti (Argentina). Liz Page acted as Jury Secretary.

The criteria used to assess the nominations included the aesthetic and literary quality as well as the freshness and innovation of the body of work; the ability to see the child’s point of view and to stretch their curiosity; and the continuing relevance of their works to children and young people.

After the meeting Yokota said, ‘It was remarkable to work with such an accomplished jury. Despite coming from so many different cultures and backgrounds there was a surprising degree of consensus. We felt deep appreciation for the many wonderful candidates whose works we were privileged to study.’

The two winners will be announced by IBBY on Monday, 21 March 2022 at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair. The medals and diplomas will be presented to the winners during the 38th IBBY Congress in Putrajaya, Malaysia during the IBBY World Congress, 5-8 September 2022.

About the Award

The IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award, established in 1956, is the world’s most prestigious international children’s book award. Previous author winners include: Erich Kästner (Germany), Cao Wenxuan (China), Astrid Lindgren (Sweden), Gianni Rodari (Italy) Ana Maria Machado (Brazil) and Margaret Mahy (New Zealand). The illustrator winners include: Květa Pacovská (Czech Republic), Maurice Sendak (USA), Mitsumasa Anno (Japan), Igor Oleynikov (Russia), Albertine (Switzerland) and Quentin Blake (UK).

The IBBY members elect the Jury President during the biennial world congress and the Executive Committee elects the international jury of experts from nominations submitted by the IBBY National Sections.

The members of the Jury assess the complete body of the candidates’ work. All the candidates nominated for the Award have made outstanding contributions to children’s literature in their countries and are selected by the IBBY National Sections. The UK nominations were Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee.

The International Board on Books for Young People is comprised of 80 National Sections and works to bring children and books together. It is the oldest and most highly regarded organization in the world working globally for children and books. The Andersen Award is sponsored by Nami Island Arts & Education Inc.