International line-up of illustrators on Klaus Flugge shortlist

The shortlist of the second Klaus Flugge Prize reveals a global line-up of American and British publishers with illustrators also from Korea and Italy. Chair of the judges, Julia Eccleshare, said she was delighted that "the list is so international" because Klaus Flugge himself supported illustrators from across the world.

Books from three British publishers and two American ones are shortlisted for the prize which was launched by Andersen Press last year to honour debut illustrators. Macmillan Children’s Books is up for the award for Little Red by Bethan Woollvin along with Tate’s The Museum of Me by Emma Lewis, winner of the Opera Prima Bologna Ragazzi Award 2017. The Journey by Francesca Sanna has also been shortlisted and is published by Flying Eye Books, an imprint of Nobrow Children's. San Francisco-based publisher Chronicle Books is shortlisted for First Snow by Bomi Park while US agency Abrams, founded in 1949, is up for Hannah and Sugar by Kate Berube. The shortlist features illustrators from Korea, Italy, and the United States as well as the UK.    

The shortlist was revealed at Foyles in Charing Cross Road on 17th May, whittled down by the judging panel from a total of 15. The judges include Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler, Nicholas John Frith who won last year's Klaus Flugge Prize, the Sunday Times children’s books editor Nicolette Jones and Tamara Macfarlane, owner of Tales on Moon Lane children’s bookshop. It is chaired by Eccleshare, children's books editor of the Guardian.

Eccleshare said: “Once again the discussion was extremely lively as they considered the illustrators’ technical skill and their ability to tell a story and convey emotion through their pictures. The shortlist features five very talented picture book artists and we are delighted too that the list is so international: throughout his career Klaus Flugge has supported illustrators from across the world and it is fitting that the prize he founded is doing the same.”

The winner will be revealed at an award ceremony in London on 13th September and will receive a cheque for £5,000. Frith won the award last year for Hector and Hummingbird (Alison Green Books), about a spectacled bear and his noisy best friend.

Judges (from left) Axel Scheffler, Nicolette Jones, Tamara Macfarlane and Nicholas John Frith