Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett nominated by IBBY UK for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

IBBY UK is delighted to announce the nomination of Michael Rosen, author category, and Emily Gravett, illustrator category, for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2026.

In the portfolio supporting Michael’s submission, Professor Kimberley Reynolds writes:
Michael Rosen has been entertaining, educating, promoting and expanding writing for children in the UK in original, radical ways for half a century. To witness his unique way of engaging with a live young audience, making them laugh and laugh again, is like watching an entirely benevolent version of the Pied Piper once again casting his spell.

Dr Soumi Dey, in an essay supporting Emily’s submission, writes:
Gravett burst into the illustration scene in 2005 in the most impressive of ways – her debut Wolves won the CILIP Kate Greenaway Award. Since then, her exceptional talent for illustration as well as storytelling incorporating themes with cross-generational appeal has seen her create an oeuvre of work consisting of many titles hailed as instant modern classics. Gravett’s works offer playful, creative and, often, subversive juxtapositions of the visual and the verbal.

The full portfolios can be read on the IBBY UK website.

Pam Dix, the Chair of IBBY UK:
We are very excited to be nominating two such highly respected and significant contributors from the UK children’s literature world and look forward to working with them during the nomination process. My colleagues in the IBBY team have prepared very strong submissions for these excellent candidates.

The IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Awards are the highest international recognition given to creators of children’s books whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children’s literature. The Author Award has been given since 1956 and the Illustrator Award since 1966. The recipients of the awards are selected by a distinguished international jury of literature experts.

A full list of the all the 78 nominees from 44 countries and the 2026 jury members can be found at this website.

The shortlists for the 2026 awards will be announced early in the new year and the winners at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in April 2026. The awards will be presented to the winners at the 40th IBBY World Congress in Ottawa, Canada from 6-9 August 2026.

Previous UK winners of the author award are Eleanor Farjeon (1956), Aidan Chambers (2002) and David Almond (2010) and of the illustrator award are Anthony Browne (2000) and Quentin Blake (2002). You can read an obituary of Aidan Chambers, who died recently, on our IBBY UK website. The 2024 winners were Heinz Janisch from Austria (author award) and Sydney Smith from Canada (illustrator award).

Enquiries about the UK submissions for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards and general enquiries about IBBY UK should be addressed to:
ibbyuksecretary@gmail.com

Notes to editors

About IBBY International
IBBY is a non-profit organisation that was founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1953. Today, it is composed of 93 National Sections which represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together.

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