CILIP responds to petition to bring back Kate Greenaway Medal

CILIP, the libraries and information association, has responded to a petition to reinstate the original name of the Kate Greenaway Medal after it was renamed The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration.

The petition was launched by librarian and lecturer Rose Roberto and Tamsin Rosewell, illustrator and bookseller, and has so far garnered more than 1,000 signatures including from the likes of Dapo Adeola and Rob Biddulph.

It argues: “The name of an accomplished woman, whose work is directly relevant to the award, has been removed and replaced with that of a male industrialist and a sponsoring corporation. This feels hugely insensitive, and ironically inappropriate when it awards a profession that still battles to be recognised.”

CILIP said it will consider this when looking at the future direction of the awards.

It said in a statement: “We understand the concerns raised and recognise the importance of Kate Greenaway’s contribution to children’s books and illustration. This will be taken into account when considering the future direction of the awards, and we will continue to honour and recognise Kate Greenaway’s work, as we did with our Greenaway Greats reading scheme last year.”

As part of the statement they state they felt it would “be useful to clarify the process by which the decision was made”, and this timeline can be read in the full statement here.

The statement goes on: “As the oldest and best-loved children’s book awards, we are passionate about supporting and celebrating illustrators of today, and ensuring we are fulfilling our awards mission.

“We are proud that the Carnegie Medal for Illustration continues to be one of the few awards highlighting the important contribution of illustrators. As part of our commitment to promoting a diverse range of talents and perspectives, we strive to be inclusive through our promotion of illustrators on equal terms with writers.

“CILIP and YLG will continue to explore opportunities to utilise the exceptional backlist of illustration winners to create participation and engagement projects that bring outstanding reading opportunities to a wide range of traditional and non-traditional readers.”