Award nominations

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize longlist. Again, in alphabetical order by author, and the age recommendations are those of the judges.

Theresa Breslin, Prisoner of the Inquisition (12+)
Morris Gleitzman, Now (9+)
Gregory Hughes, Unhooking the Moon (11+)
Eva Ibbotson, The Ogre of Oglefort (8+)
Ally Kennen, Sparks (9+)
Linda Newbery, Lob (8+)
Michelle Paver, Ghost Hunter (10+)
Marcus Sedgwick, White Crow (13+)

Although the Guardian's eligibility period is different to those of the Carnegie Medal, there's no overlap between the two awards this year. That's not to say that some of these might turn up on next year's Carnegie list, though. As this article points out, there is a resurgence in MG titles this year. The last three winners (in reverse order Mal Peet for Exposure, Patrick Ness for The Knife of Never Letting Go and Jenny Valentine for Finding Violet Park) were all YA books.

Morris Gleitzman was shortlisted last year with Then, the second of a trilogy of which Now is the third. Marcus Sedgwick has been longlisted at least twice before - for the second year running with a novel not actually yet published at the time of the longlist announcement. As far as I know, the other six authors are first-timers on the longlist.

I haven't read any of the longlisted books. The shortlist should be out in August and the award itself in September. The judges are: Julia Eccleshare (Guardian Children's Books Editor), Mal Peet, Linda Buckley-Archer and Jenny Downham.

I'll start tracking another award through this thread. The Branford Boase Award is for the best first novel for children or young adults (defined as 7+) published in the UK during the previous year (by a UK-resident author). It began in 2000 and previous winners were Katherine Roberts, Marcus Sedgwick, Sally Prue, Kevin Brooks. Mal Peet, Meg Rosoff, Frances Hardinge, Siobhan Dowd, Jenny Downham and B.R. Collins.

The 2010 Award will be announced on 14 July. Here is the shortlist, in alphabetical order by author:

Sarwat Chadda, Devil's Kiss
Lucy Christopher, Stolen
Damian Kelleher, Life, Interrupted
Anna Perera, Guantanamo Boy
Dan Tunstall, Big and Clever
Rachel Ward, Numbers
Victor Watson, Paradise Barn


I haven't read any of those, but a copy of Guantanamo Boy is in the pile.

eyeblink said:

Carnegie Medal shortlist, announced today, for the best MG/YA novel published in the UK in the year 2009. In alphabetical order by author, and the age recommendations are those of the judges.

Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (11+)
Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book (9+)
Helen Grant, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden (14+)
Julie Hearn, Rowan the Strange (12+)
Patrick Ness, The Ask and the Answer (14+)
Terry Pratchett, Nation (11+)
Philip Reeve, Fever Crumb (9+)
Marcus Sedgwick, Revolver (12+)

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on 24 June.

Click to expand...

And the winner is Neil Gaiman. I'm not sure I'd have gone with that - of the six I've read I would have chosen either Laurie Halse Anderson or Marcus Sedgwick. I haven't read the novels by Helen Grant or Julie Hearn - they're still pending from Hampshire Libraries. Maybe I'll manage to read the whole shortlist next year?

It's possibly more common in adult fiction and especially SF where the form is called a "fix-up". (Fix-ups often assemble previously-published short work as a novel - in Gaiman's case "The Witch's Headstone" appeared in an anthology beforehand.) The results can be episodic, which I found Graveyard Book to be.

Maybe it's me, but due to this shortlist I read my first novels by the three most popular names on it (Pratchett and Reeve as well as Gaiman). While I I didn't not enjoy their books, I wasn't blown away either. Oh well.

Incidentally, The Graveyard Book won the Newbery Medal (US) last year. It's the first novel to win both that and the Carnegie Medal.

eyeblink said:

I'll start tracking another award through this thread. The Branford Boase Award is for the best first novel for children or young adults (defined as 7+) published in the UK during the previous year (by a UK-resident author). It began in 2000 and previous winners were Katherine Roberts, Marcus Sedgwick, Sally Prue, Kevin Brooks. Mal Peet, Meg Rosoff, Frances Hardinge, Siobhan Dowd, Jenny Downham and B.R. Collins.

The 2010 Award will be announced on 14 July. Here is the shortlist, in alphabetical order by author:

Sarwat Chadda, Devil's Kiss
Lucy Christopher, Stolen
Damian Kelleher, Life, Interrupted
Anna Perera, Guantanamo Boy
Dan Tunstall, Big and Clever
Rachel Ward, Numbers
Victor Watson, Paradise Barn

Click to expand...

And the winner is...Stolen by Lucy Christopher.

I haven't read any of the list, but the first thing I did after posting was to reserve Stolen from the library. However, the two remaining of the Carnegie shortlist (The Vanishing of Katharina Linden and Rowan the Strange) have FINALLY arrived, so I'll read them next.

And interesting shortlists, DrummerGirl. I'll be in Australia in early September, and one thing I'll be doing (apart from attending the Worldcon in Melbourne) is checking out the bookshops as I suspect there will be quite a few books that simply aren't available in the UK, not even on Amazon - including some on those two shortlists.

eyeblink said:

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize longlist. Again, in alphabetical order by author, and the age recommendations are those of the judges.

Theresa Breslin, Prisoner of the Inquisition (12+)
Morris Gleitzman, Now (9+)
Gregory Hughes, Unhooking the Moon (11+)
Eva Ibbotson, The Ogre of Oglefort (8+)
Ally Kennen, Sparks (9+)
Linda Newbery, Lob (8+)
Michelle Paver, Ghost Hunter (10+)
Marcus Sedgwick, White Crow (13+)

Click to expand...

They seem to have skipped the shortlist of four (unless I missed it), but the winner is Ghost Hunter by Michelle Paver.

Shortlist for the Costa Book Awards, Children's Book category

Lucy Christopher, Flyaway
Sharon Dogar, Annexed
Jonathan Stroud, Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon
Jason Wallace, Out of Shadows

The winner will be announced on 5 January, and will go forward with the other category winners (Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry) to be considered for the Costa Book of the Year, to be announced on 25 January.

Nominations (i.e. books submitted) for the 2011 Carnegie Medal here.

Some I've read on that list, and quite a few I'd like to. The shortlist is announced on 8 April and for the last couple of years I've made a point of reading all eight books on it, so I suspect I'll be doing that again. Maybe I'll even manage to read all of the shortlist before the winner is announced on 23 June.

eyeblink said:

Shortlist for the Costa Book Awards, Children's Book category

Lucy Christopher, Flyaway
Sharon Dogar, Annexed
Jonathan Stroud, Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon
Jason Wallace, Out of Shadows

The winner will be announced on 5 January, and will go forward with the other category winners (Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry) to be considered for the Costa Book of the Year, to be announced on 25 January.

Click to expand...

And the winner is Jason Wallace for Out of Shadows.

I haven't read it, but I've put a reservation in at my local library.

Shortlist for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for 2011. Like the Branford Boase Award, it's for a debut children's book.

Nominees in alphabetical order by author. Age recommendations are those of Waterstone's.


Sita Brahmachari, Artichoke Hearts [9-12]
Ruth Eastham,. The Memory Cage [9-12]
Candy Gourlay, Tall Story [9-12]
Janice Hardy, The Pain Merchants [Teen]
Curtis Jobling, Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf [Teen]
Anna Kemp, Fantastic Frankie and The Brain Drain Machine [5-8]
Irfan Master, A Beautiful Lie [Teen]
Jon Mayhew, Mortlock [9-12]
Rebecca Stead, When You Reach Me[Teen]

Spot the AW-er in the above list...

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, herewith the 2011 Printz Award:

Winner - Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Honor Books:
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Please Ignore Vera Deitz by A.S. King
Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Nothing by Janne Teller

I have heard good things about Ship Breaker. Of the others I've read Stolen and Revolver, both of which are excellent.

And, while we're on US awards, the 2011 Newbery Medal:

Winner - Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Honor Books:
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

I have to confiess I haven't read any of these!

eyeblink said:

Shortlist for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for 2011. Like the Branford Boase Award, it's for a debut children's book.

Nominees in alphabetical order by author. Age recommendations are those of Waterstone's.


Sita Brahmachari, Artichoke Hearts [9-12]
Ruth Eastham,. The Memory Cage [9-12]
Candy Gourlay, Tall Story [9-12]
Janice Hardy, The Pain Merchants [Teen]
Curtis Jobling, Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf [Teen]
Anna Kemp, Fantastic Frankie and The Brain Drain Machine [5-8]
Irfan Master, A Beautiful Lie [Teen]
Jon Mayhew, Mortlock [9-12]
Rebecca Stead, When You Reach Me[Teen]

Spot the AW-er in the above list...

Click to expand...

And the winner is Sita Brahmachari for Artichoke Hearts. I've just reserved it from the library. There are four reservations ahead of me, which is just as well as I have a pretty big reading load at the moment.

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy:

Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry)
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen)
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

To be awarded along with the Nebula Awards on 21 May.