Two books about male friendship and masculinity have been announced as winners in the latest Carnegie awards, which highlight the best new books for children and young people.
This year saw 27-year-old Margaret McDonald become the youngest ever winner of the Carnegie medal for writing, which is judged by a panel of librarians.
McDonald’s winning debut, Glasgow Boys, is a coming-of-age novel about the friendship between two boys who have grown up in the care system.
Another book focused on male friendship, King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore, was voted winner in a separate prize judged by young people from reading groups in schools and libraries who shadowed the judging process for the flagship award.
The Carnegie medal for illustration was awarded to Olivia Lomenech Gill for Clever Crow, written by Chris Butterworth. The shadowers’ choice medal for illustration went to Homebody by Theo Parish.
The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Cambridge theatre in London on Thursday. McDonald and Lomenech Gill were awarded £5,000 each, while Lessore and Parish were given £500 each to donate to libraries of their choice.
Writing Glasgow Boys, McDonald worked with a children’s therapist to depict the care system in an authentic way. The novel, which incorporates Scots dialect, is “an immersive and visceral read that completely draws the reader into the present and past lives of Finlay and Banjo”, said judging chair Ros Harding.
“Neither of [the characters] can remember the last time they had a hug; both are determined to hold on at all costs to the uncertain hope of a brighter future”, wrote Imogen Russell Williams in a Guardian review. The book “is a paean to the power of friendship, and daring to be vulnerable in the face of past hurt”.
McDonald is donating her prize money to Action for Children, which helps young people in care and other vulnerable groups of children, while Lomenech Gill plans to use the money for a project supporting schools, education and libraries in Palestine.
after newsletter promotion
Working on Clever Crow “was a great opportunity to learn more about these very clever and sociable birds, and I hope that the book might encourage readers to look at crows from a different viewpoint than the rather negative stereotype as portrayed in fairy tales, horror movies, and Hitchcock,” said Lomenech Gill.
The shadowers’ choice winner for writing, King of Nothing, is a teen comedy about an unlikely friendship between two boys. Earlier this year, the novel topped the older readers category in the Waterstones children’s book prize and won the Jhalak children’s and young adult prize.
“It’s testament to Lessore’s lightness of touch and believable characters that despite delving into big topics such as toxic masculinity and grief, this is an immensely readable book that never feels too worthy,” wrote Fiona Noble in the Guardian.
Homebody, the shadowers’ choice winner for illustration, follows “the protagonist’s search for self-acceptance, so that the house of their body can feel like a true home”, wrote Imogen Russell Williams in the Guardian. “Investigating the subtleties of trans and non-binary identities, its soft greys and pinks and joyful emphasis on self-discovery will appeal to Heartstopper fans.”
The Carnegie writing medal was established in 1936, while the illustration prize was launched in 1955. Previous winners of the writing award include Frank Cottrell Boyce, CS Lewis, Philip Pullman and Ruta Sepetys; past illustration winners include Shirley Hughes, Quentin Blake and Lauren Child.
Last year, Joseph Coelho won the writing award for The Boy Lost in the Maze, illustrated by Kate Milner, while Aaron Becker took home the illustration medal for The Tree and the River.
