The Carnegies, the UK’s longest running book awards for children and young people, today announced their longlists for 2025. British writers and independent publishers dominate the Medal for Writing this year with masculinity and a search for self, grief and recovery, prevalent themes in stories that reflect the realities of young lives while offering hope in the future. International illustrators are at the forefront of the Medal for Illustration list with the transformative power of books, nature and the environment celebrated in stories that speak through bold and innovative interplays of colour, texture and technique.

A total of 35 titles have been selected from 19 different publishers; 19 titles for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, and 16 for the Carnegie Medal for Illustration.

• Independent publishers dominate with 23 books longlisted from 13 different publishing houses, including small presses Firefly Press, Otter-Barry, Little Island, Lantana and UCLan Publishing.

• Tom Percival is longlisted as both writer and illustrator for two books published by Simon & Schuster: The Wrong Shoes in the Medal for Writing, and The Bridges in the Medal for Illustration category

• British and Irish writers dominate the Medal for Writing longlist, including Scottish writers Brian Conaghan, and Margaret McDonald, Welsh writer Lesley Parr and Irish writer C.G. Moore.

• International talent dominates the Medal for Illustration with illustrators longlisted from across the globe including Mexico, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Spain, Canada and the US, as well as the UK.

• 2024 Medal for Illustration and Shadowers’ Choice Award for Illustration winner Aaron Becker is longlisted for The Last Zookeeper alongside two other previous winners of the Medal for Illustration: two-time winner in 2018 and 2021 Sydney Smith for Do You Remember? and winner in 2000, Lauren Child for Grey.

• 5 writers previously shortlisted for the Medal for Writing have been longlisted - Brian Conaghan, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Frances Hardinge, Nathanael Lessore, and Jenny Valentine, with a first longlisting for the ‘Queen of YA Fiction’, Holly Bourne.

• Walker Books leads the field for publisher nominations with 8 titles longlisted across both Medal lists, 6 in the Illustration category and 2 for Writing. Simon & Schuster follows with 5 longlisted titles, 4 for the Medal in Writing and 1 for Illustration.

Carnegies Medal For Writing Longlist

On Silver Tides Sylvia Bishop 

Treacle Town Brian Conaghan 

Fallout Lesley Parr

King of Nothing Nathanael Lessore

Glasgow Boys Margaret McDonald 

Sisters of the Moon Marie Louise Fitzpatrick 

Play Luke Palmer 

All That It Ever Meant Blessing Musariri

Trigger C.G Moore 

Island of Whispers Frances Hardinge 

I Am Wolf Alastair Chisholm 

The Final Year Matt Goodfellow 

If My Words Had Wings Danielle Jawando

The Things We Leave Behind Clare Furniss 

The Wrong Shoes Tom Percival 

Us in the Before and After Jenny Valentine

You Could Be So Pretty Holly Bourne

Little Bang Kelly McCaughrain 

Louder Than Hunger John Schu

Carnegies Medal For Illustration Longlist

Grandad's Star illustrated by Rhian Stone

Letters in Charcoal illustrated by Juan Palomino

The Invisible Story illustrated by Wen Hsu Chen

Homebody illustrated by Theo Parish 

Wolf and Bear illustrated by Kate Rolfe

The Wild illustrated by Yuval Zommer

Flower Block illustrated by Hoang Giang

I Love Books illustrated by Mariajo Ilustrajo 

The Bridges illustrated by Tom Percival 

Flying High illustrated by Yu Rong

Clever Crow illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill 

Dive, Dive into the Night Sea illustrated by Thea Lu 

Do You Remember? illustrated by Sydney Smith 

Grey illustrated by Lauren Child

The Dictionary Story illustrated by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston

The Last Zookeeper illustrated by Aaron Becker

What are the Carnegies?

The Carnegies celebrate outstanding reading experiences in books for children and young people. They are unique in being judged by librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Medal voted for by children and young people. The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives. The longlists were chosen from 119 nominations by the judging panel which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

At the Carnegies it is believed that a single book has the power to ignite a lifelong passion for reading. The Carnegie Medals have dedicated over 80 years to finding and celebrating outstanding writing and illustration for children and are proud to continue lighting the way for young readers to find their next life-changing read.

The Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.

The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration, for children and young people.

In addition, the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme engages thousands of children and young people in reading the books on the shortlist via reading groups in schools and public libraries, with dedicated educational reading resources and promotional materials to support each shortlist. Each year, young people who take part in the scheme are invited to vote for their favourite books to win the Shadowers’ Choice Awards, which are announced alongside the Medal winners at the annual winners’ ceremony.

The Medals are awarded annually by CILIP, the library and information association and the Youth Libraries Group.

The Carnegies Key 2025 dates

Longlist announcement – 12th February
Shortlist announcement at London Book Fair – 11th March
Start of shadowing – 12th March
Award ceremony (which is live streamed to thousands of schools and last year over 1k children at attended the ceremony itself) – 19th June

Find out more at The Carnegies @CarnegieMedals #Carnegies2025