Following concerns about the lack of British and Minority Ethnic (BAME) representation on the 2017 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal longlists, CILIP, the library and information association, has launched a review into how it can better include diversity in its awards. The review opened in March 2018 and runs until 27 April 2018, so CILIP is keen to hear from as many people in the industry as possible to help make the awards more inclusive. Whether you’re an author, a publisher, an illustrator or a teacher who is taking part in a shadowing scheme, they want to know what you think.

With the findings of this review along with the outcomes of the diversity workshops they ran in collaboration with their stakeholders in the Summer and Autumn of 2017, CILIP hopes to update its long-term plans and selection process around the awards and the shadowing schemes that are part of its structure.

It’s essential, now more than ever, to ensure that our cultural and creative businesses are doing all they can to be as diverse and inclusive as possible. With the recent investment of £150 million worth of government and industry money into the sector and government figures suggesting that employment within the industry has grown by 19.5% since 2011, it’s clear that creative jobs are becoming more and more popular. However, in a 2016 report commissioned by Spread the Word and supported by ALCS, some BAME authors felt that “publication of their novels had been affected by the limited cultural awareness of their editors” suggesting that exposure to works written by these authors is vital, not only as representation for readers but also to promote diversification within the industry itself.

With this in mind, it’s up to those of us already in the industry to ensure this sector is as diverse as it can be. By getting involved with reviews like this we can make sure that a lack of representation in the arts is addressed. This will not only pave the way for a more inclusive workforce in the future but also develop current productivity and loyalty within creative companies. (It’s been suggested that more diverse companies are 35% more likely to see a higher financial return than their less diverse counterparts.)

This short questionnaire has been created in partnership with Coventry University and is open to anyone who may be interested in the awards, although no in-depth prior knowledge is necessary. As well as looking into the diversity and representation of their selections, CILIP wants to learn more about awareness of the awards within the community.

If you’re interested in taking part in this opportunity to help embed diversity into the UK’s oldest and most renowned children’s book awards, please visit coventry.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/cilip-ckg-survey. The survey is open until 27 April 2018 – so with not long left to go, now is the time to get involved.