Book Shelf » Books for Children » Carnegie Medal Winners
The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children.
It was established by The Library Association in Britain in 1936, in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie was a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA. His experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that “if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries.” Carnegie set up more than 2800 libraries across the English speaking world and, by the time of his death, over half the library authorities in Great Britain had Carnegie libraries.
The Carnegie Medal was first awarded to Arthur Ransome for Pigeon Post. The medal is now awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, which is a new organisation formed by the Unification of the Institute of Information Scientists and The Library Association on 1 April 2002. The winner receives a golden medal and £500 worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.
IMPORTANT: I have a couple of pointers and comments about the list:
- I haven’t read all these books and therefore can’t endorse them all; the books are here because they are medal winners in a list of medal winning books.
- Some people prefer the older books which are more likely to deal with happier situations, and the more recent books are more likely to be dealing with controversial subjects, so check carefully before you buy.
- Also, some of these books are definitely for older children (teens). Use your discretion in choosing.
- Not all these books are still in print.
- Books go out of print very quickly, so if you like a book it is a good idea to grab it when it is available.
2009 Siobhan Dowd, Bog Child
2008 Philip Reeve, Here Lies Arthur
2007 Meg Rosoff, Just in Case
2005 Mal Peet, Tamar
2004 Frank Cottrell Boyce, Millions
2003 Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light
2002 Sharon Creech, Ruby Holler
2001 Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
2000 Beverley Naidoo, The Other Side of Truth
1999 Aidan Chambers, Postcards From No Man’s Land
1998 David Almond, Skellig
1997 Tim Bowler, River Boy
1996 Melvin Burgess, Junk,
1994 Theresa Breslin, Whispers in the Graveyard,
1993 Robert Swindells, Stone Cold
1992 Anne Fine, Flour Babies
1991 Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody
1990 Gillian Cross, Wolf
1989 Anne Fine, Goggle-eyes
1988 Geraldine McCaughrean, A Pack of Lies
1987 Susan Price, The Ghost Drum
1986 Berlie Doherty, Granny was a Buffer Girl
1985 Kevin Crossley-Holland, Storm
1984 Margaret Mahy, The Changeover
1983 Jan Mark, Handles
1982 Margaret Mahy, The Haunting
1981 Robert Westall, The Scarecrows
1980 Peter Dickinson, City of Gold
1979 Peter Dickinson, Tulku
1978 David Rees, The Exeter Blitz
1977 Gene Kemp, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler
1976 Jan Mark, Thunder and Lightnings
1975 Robert Westall, The Machine Gunners
1974 Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold
1973 Penelope Lively, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
1972 Richard Adams, Watership Down
1971 Ivan Southall, Josh
1970 Leon Garfield & Edward Blishen, The God Beneath the Sea,
1969 Kathleen Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud,
1968 Rosemary Harris, The Moon in the Cloud
1967 Alan Garner, The Owl Service
1966 Prize withheld as no book considered suitable
1965 Philip Turner, The Grange at High Force
1964 Sheena Porter, Nordy Bank
1963 Hester Burton, Time of Trial
1962 Pauline Clarke, The Twelve and the Genii
1961 Lucy M Boston, A Stranger at Green Knowe
1960 Dr I W Cornwall, The Making of Man
1959 Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers
1958 Philippa Pearce, Tom’s Midnight Garden
1957 William Mayne, A Grass Rope
1956 C S Lewis, The Last Battle
1955 Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom
1954 Ronald Welch (Felton Ronald Oliver), Knight Crusader
1953 Edward Osmond, A Valley Grows Up
1952 Mary Norton, The Borrowers
1951 Cynthia Harnett, The Woolpack
1950 Elfrida Vipont Foulds, The Lark on the Wing
1949 Agnes Allen, The Story of Your Homer
1948 Richard Armstrong, Sea Change
1947 Walter De La Mare, Collected Stories for Children
1946 Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse
1945 Prize withheld as no book considered suitable
1944 Eric Linklater, The Wind on the Moon
1943 Prize withheld as no book considered suitable
1942 ‘BB’ (D J Watkins-Pitchford), The Little Grey Men
1941 Mary Treadgold, We Couldn’t Leave Dinah
1940 Kitty Barne, Visitors from London
1939 Eleanor Doorly, Radium Woman
1938 Noel Streatfield, The Circus is Coming
1937 Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street
1936 Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post