Gardner and Pinfold win Carnegie and Greenaway Medals

Sally Gardner's children's book Maggot Moon has won the CILIP Carnegie Medal, with emerging illustrator Levi Pinfold beating stars including Emily Gravett and Helen Oxenbury to take the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for Black Dog, only his second book.

The win for Maggot Moon, which also took the 2012 Costa Children's Book Award, means that publisher Hot Key Books has taken two of the most prestigious children's book awards within a year of its launch. Meanwhile Pinfold's victory gives a win to Templar Books, which, like Hot Key, is owned by Bonnier Publishing.

Both winning books tells tales of triumph over terror. In Gardner's Maggot Moon, dyslexic young hero Standish stands up to a sinister dictatorship despite the fact that friends and family around him "disappear". Meanwhile in Pinfold's Black Dog, a little girl faces up to a giant hound who inspires terror in everyone else.

Karen Robinson, chair of the judging panel, said: "The heroes in both Gardner and Pinfold's exquisitely realised and highly original books are the antithesis to the heroes we come to expect from Hollywood; both are small and without obvious talent. But in the face of terror their pluck, courage and hope shines brightly through. I'm confident that both books are true modern classics and will be read and enjoyed by generations to come."

Gardner, herself dyslexic, chose the opportunity of her victory to speak out for the librarians and teachers who help children who find reading difficult. "Without books I would not be a writer and without the zeal of librarians I would not have won this award," she said. "I believe teachers and librarians should be free to instill a life-long lover of learning, without being policed by an outdated curriculum."

She added: "I firmly believe Gove's new curriculum excludes rather than embraces those like me, and millions of others, with a different way of seeing and thinking."

Pinfold also paid tribute to libraries and librarians as he accepted his medal. "To win the Kate Greenaway Medal is fantastic; I couldn't use the words 'over the moon' less lightly," he said. "I'm honoured that my work has been recognised by CILIP on behalf of librarians, for whom I have nothing but respect."

He added: "I am always amazed at the passion for reading, looking and understanding that libraries inspire in everyone. The availability of a whole universe of knowledge and inspiration in one place is something highly underrated, as is the importance of encouraging mind, young and old, on the pathway to discovery. I think we all have a lot to learn from libraries."

The CILIP Carnegie Medal 2013 shortlist in full:
· The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan, Bloomsbury
· A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle, Marion Lloyd Books
· Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, Hot Key Books
· In Darkness by Nick Lake, Bloomsbury
· Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Bodley Head
· Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick, Indigo
· A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton, David Fickling Books
· Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Electric Monkey

The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2013 shortlist in full:
· Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb, Macmillan Children's Books
· Again! by Emily Gravett, Macmillan Children's Books
· Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton, Walker Books
· I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, Walker Books
· Pirates 'n' Pistols by Chris Mould, Hodder Children's Books
· King Jack and the Dragon by Helen Oxenbury (illustrator) and Peter Bently (author), Puffin Books
· Black Dog by Levi Pinfold, Templar Publishing
· Just Ducks! by Salvatore Rubbino (illustrator) and Nicola Davies (author), Walker Books