Winners announced for three ALCS-sponsored literary awards
Last week, we attended three awards ceremonies celebrating some of the UK's most exciting and talented voices in writing and illustration.
The Society of Authors’ Awards at Southwark Cathedral honoured both emerging and established talent, with ALCS proudly sponsoring the ceremony, and the ADCI Literary Prize and the Tom-Gallon Trust Award.
The Carnegies, the UK’s longest-running awards for children’s literature, followed at the Cambridge Theatre, highlighting work by young and debut authors.
The week concluded with the CLiPPA ceremony at the National Theatre, recognising outstanding poetry for children. Together, these events celebrated creativity, inclusivity, and the power of storytelling across all ages and genres.
SoA awards
On Wednesday 18th June, we attended The Society of Authors’ Awards at Southwark Cathedral which celebrates the best and most promising literary voices of the year. ALCS sponsor two prizes, the Tom Gallon and the ADCI award.
The ADCI Literary Prize is awarded to a disabled or chronically ill writer, for an outstanding novel containing a disabled or chronically ill character or characters. This year’s winner is Helen Heckety for her debut novel Alter Ego. ADCI Literary Prize judge Dr Okechukwu Nzelu said: ‘Alter Ego by Helen Heckety is a wonderfully engaging novel. From the opening, it captured me with its warmth, humour, humanity and honesty.’
The ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award is awarded for a short story of up to 5,000 words. It was judged by Andre Bagoo, Louise Brealey, Peter Hobbs and Yan Ge, who selected Katie Hale as the winner for her story ‘Raise, or how to break free of the ground, or the Lakeland dialect for slippery is slape and to form it in the mouth requires an act of falling.’
Judge Peter Hobbs said: “Raise’ is a beautiful, elliptical gem of a story, its tension created and held perfectly by every sentence. It’s rooted in life and vivid landscape, but offers a meditation on how and why we tell stories. It was an easy winner: the outstanding story this year, and the unanimous choice of all the judges.’
The Carnegies
On Thursday 19th June, we attended The Carnegies, managed by CILIP, the library and information association, where the winners were announced in front of an audience of over 600 young people at a ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s award-winning Matilda The Musical. The Carnegies is the UK’s longest-running book awards for children and young people.
The Carnegies celebrate achievement in children’s writing and illustration and are unique in being judged by an expert panel of children’s and youth librarians, including 14 librarians from CILIP. Each year, thousands of reading groups in schools and libraries in the UK and around the world also get involved in the awards, with young people ‘shadowing’ the judging process, debating and choosing their own winners from this year’s shortlist.
2025 Winners:
Twenty-seven-year-old debut author Margaret McDonald was announced as the Carnegie Medal for Writing winner, the youngest in its almost ninety-year history, for her novel Glasgow Boys (Faber.) This story explores mental health, trauma, inequality and identity through the friendship between two boys who have grown up in foster care.
The winner of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration is Olivia Lomenech Gill for Clever Crow, written by Chris Butterworth (Walker Books.) This detailed non-fiction picture book is illustrated in earthy watercolours, charcoal, gouache and collage.
The winner of the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing is King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK), a YA novel about a bully whose new friendship with an unpopular classmate proves a catalyst for change, exploring young masculinity.
The second debut to triumph this year is Homebody by author-illustrator Theo Parish (Macmillan Children’s Books), which has won the Carnegie Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Illustration. Homebody is a graphic novel exploring identity, self-discovery and the importance of living authentically.
CLiPPA
On Friday 20th June, the winner of the UK’s major award for published poetry for children, the CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award) was announced at a ceremony at the National Theatre on London’s Southbank watched live by thousands of primary school children.
This year’s award winner is Colette Hiller for her collection Colossal Words for Kids, illustrated by Tor Freeman (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books). In Colossal Words for Kids, Hiller defines in rhyme 75 ‘colossal’ words that children can use in their everyday lives, from capacious to voracious, procrastinate to zest.
Poet Roger McGough, chair of this year’s judges, says, “Colossal Words for Kids was a favourite with all the judges. It’s indisputably original and ambitious, with rhymes that demand to be spoken aloud. It’s also proof that learning big words needn’t be even faintly… soporific!”
Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and prize winners, and to the organisations for hosting the fantastic ceremonies. You can read more about the awards below:
