A total of 36 books have been recognised, with 19 books selected for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing longlist, and 18 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration – common themes include hidden worlds and alternate realities, forgotten histories highlighted or reimagined, and environmentalism and the power of nature. Click here to read more about the fantastic books that have been chosen.
The lists include:
- One title longlisted in both Medal categories – Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean, published by independent publisher David Fickling Books. Said and McKean were previously nominated together for Phoenix in 2013. McKean has also been shortlisted six times previously.
- Four previous winners of the Medal for Illustration; two-time winner Sydney Smith for My Baba’s Garden, Bob Graham for The Concrete Garden, Jon Klassen for The Skull and Catherine Rayner for The Bowerbird.
- Former Carnegie Medal for Writing winner Anthony McGowen for Dogs of the Deadland, a tale of survival inspired by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
- Previous Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Illustration winner, Sharon King-Chai for Colours, Colours Everywhere, a tactile picture book teaching children about different colours, written by Julia Donaldson.
- Waterstones Children’s Laureate and previous shortlistee Joseph Coelho for The Boy Lost in the Maze, one of four verse novels recognised for the Medal for Writing. The other three are by New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander and debut authors, Cathy Faulkner and Tia Fisher.
- Eight-time shortlisted author Marcus Sedgwick, who has been longlisted posthumously for Ravencave, the follow up to Wrath, longlisted in 2023.
- A further four previous shortlistees; Kwame Alexander (2019), Phil Earle (2022) and Candy Gourlay (2019) for writing and Poonam Mistry,who has been shortlisted three times (2019, 2020 and 2021) for illustration.
- 18 British or dual-British heritage authors in the Writing category.
- Seven titles from Walker Books for the Illustration medal.
Maura Farrelly, Chair of Judges for The Yoto Carnegies 2024, said:
Huge congratulations to all of our longlisted authors and illustrators in what has been a fantastic year for books for children and young people. It has been a joy and a privilege to chair an enthusiastic and dedicated panel of judges as we read, debated and considered the nominated titles before arriving at two exciting longlists. These are books that play with language and show how powerful words and illustrations can inspire imaginations and encourage empathy as well as helping young readers make sense of an increasingly confusing world and give them hope for a brighter future.
The 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing longlist is (alphabetical by author surname):
- The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander (Andersen Press)
- The Song Walker by Zillah Bethell (Usborne)
- Away with Words by Sophie Cameron (Little Tiger)
- The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll, illustrated by Lauren Child (Simon & Schuster)
- The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner (Otter-Barry Books)
- Choose Love by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Petr Horáček (Graffeg)
- Electric Life by Rachel Delahaye (Troika Books)
- Until the Road Ends by Phil Earle (Andersen Press)
- Digging for Victory by Cathy Faulkner (Firefly Press)
- Crossing the Line by Tia Fisher (Bonnier Books UK)
- Wild Song by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books)
- Boy Like Me by Simon James Green (Scholastic)
- Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)
- Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK)
- The Swifts by Beth Lincoln, illustrated by Claire Powell (Penguin)
- Dogs of the Deadland by Anthony McGowan, illustrated by Keith Robinson (Oneworld Publications)
- Tyger by SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean (David Fickling Books)
- Ravencave by Marcus Sedgwick (Barrington Stoke)
- Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Macmillan Children’s Books)
The 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration longlist is (alphabetical by illustrator surname):
- The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker (Walker Books)
- Wolves in Helicopters by Paddy Donnelly, written by Sarah Tagholm (Andersen Press)
- April’s Garden by Catalina Echeverri, written by Isla McGuckin (Graffeg)
- The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham (Walker Books)
- Deep by Stephen Hogtun (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
- Lost by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Quarto)
- Colours, Colours Everywhere by Sharon King-Chai, written by Julia Donaldson (Macmillan Children’s Books)
- The Skull by Jon Klassen (Walker Books)
- The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy (Walker Books)
- Tyger by Dave McKean, written by SF Said (David Fickling Books)
- To the Other Side by Erika Meza (Hachette Children’s Group)
- The Midnight Panther by Poonam Mistry (Bonnier Books UK)
- The Bowerbird by Catherine Rayner, written by Julia Donaldson (Macmillan Children’s Books)
- Global by Giovanni Rigano, written by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin (Hachette Children’s Group)
- The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish by Chloe Savage (Walker Books)
- My Baba’s Garden by Sydney Smith, written by Jordan Scott (Walker Books)
- The Boy Who Lost His Spark by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, written by Maggie O’Farrell (Walker Books)
- What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking by Aleksandra Zając, written by Tina Oziewicz (Pushkin Press)
