The Medals celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged by librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Award voted for by children and young people. The 2021 shortlist consists of 16 titles, eight on each shortlist, selected from a total of 40 longlisted titles, read by an expert volunteer team of 15 librarians from across the UK.

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting creativity and literacy, ALCS is proud to be sponsoring the CILIP CKG Medals for the 14th consecutive year.

The 2021 shortlists are as follows:

2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist (alphabetical by author surname):

1. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Hot Key Books)
2. The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Kathrin Honesta (Usborne)
3. The Girl Who Became A Tree by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner (Otter-Barry Books)
4. On Midnight Beach by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick (Faber)
5. Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann (Penguin Random House Children’s)
6. Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds (Knights Of)
7. The Fountains Of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin Random House Children’s)
8. Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk (Penguin Random House Children’s)

2021 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist (alphabetical by illustrator surname):

1. Starbird illustrated and written by Sharon King-Chai (Two Hoots)
2. The Bird Within Me illustrated by Sara Lundberg and translated by B J Epstein (Book Island)
3. It’s A No-Money Day illustrated and written by Kate Milner (Barrington Stoke)
4. How The Stars Came To Be illustrated and written by Poonam Mistry (Tate Publishing)
5. Hike illustrated and written by Pete Oswald (Walker Books)
6. I Go Quiet illustrated and written by David Ouimet (Canongate)
7. Arlo The Lion Who Couldn’t Sleep illustrated and written by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan Children’s Books)
8. Small In The City illustrated and written by Sydney Smith (Walker Books)

In a first for this year, all the books on the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist have been illustrated and authored by the same creator.

Ellen Krajewski, Chair of the 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals judging panel, comments: “With themes of freedom, the great outdoors and journeys through the natural world, we hope the outstanding books on this year’s shortlists will inspire and empower young readers, offering hope and escapism during lockdown. The collective experience of books is more important than ever this year, providing opportunities for children and young people to reconnect and share their reading experiences with one another as they return to school. We can’t wait to see the creative responses from this year’s shadowers and discover who they will vote as their favourites to win the Shadowers’ Choice Awards. And what amazing books they have to choose from! Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and illustrators for their exceptional and creative work.”

The winners of the 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals will be announced on 16 June 2021. COVID-19 guidelines permitting, a socially distanced special daytime event will be held at The British Library and live-streamed online.

The winners will each receive £500 worth of books to donate to their local library, a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.

The 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are sponsored by ALCS and Peters, and are funded by Carnegie UK Trust.