S F Said and Dave McKean's Tyger longlisted for both the Writing and Illustration Medals at Yoto Carnegies

Tyger by S F Said and illustrated by Dave McKean (David Fickling Books), has been longlisted for both the Writing and Illustration Medal categories at this year’s Yoto Carnegie Awards. 

Said and McKean were previously nominated together for Phoenix (Corgi Children’s) in 2013. McKean has also been shortlisted six times previously. 

Four previous winners of the Medal for Illustration have also been longlisted this year, including two-time winner Sydney Smith for My Baba’s Garden (Walker Books), Bob Graham for The Concrete Garden (Walker Books), Jon Klassen for The Skull (Walker Books) and Catherine Rayner for The Bowerbird (Macmillan Children’s Books). 

Longlisted titles for the Medal for Writing include former winner Anthony McGowan for Dogs of the Deadlands (Oneworld), a tale of survival inspired by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and Waterstones Children’s Laureate and previous shortlistee Joseph Coelho for The Boy Lost in the Maze (Otter-Barry Books), one of four verse novels recognised for the Medal for Writing.  

Eight-time shortlisted author Marcus Sedgwick, is longlisted posthumously this year for Ravencave, the follow- up to Wrath (both Barrington Stoke), longlisted in 2023. 

A further four previous shortlistees; Kwame Alexander (2019), Phil Earle (2022) and Candy Gourlay (2019) are on this year’s longlist for writing and Poonam Mistry, who has been shortlisted three times (2019, 2020 and 2021) for illustration. Independent publisher Walker Books dominates the Illustration Medal with seven titles longlisted.  

The Yoto Carnegies “celebrate outstanding reading experiences in books for children and young people” organisers said. They are unique in being judged by librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Medal voted for by children and young people.  

The longlists were chosen from 129 nominations by the judging panel which includes 12 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group. 

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 shortlists for the 2024 Yoto Carnegies will be announced at a panel event at the London Book Fair on Wednesday 13th March. The winners’ ceremony will be hosted live and streamed on Thursday 20th June. The winners will each receive a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.  

The winners of the Shadowers’ Choice Medals will also be presented at the ceremony. They will also receive a golden medal and £500 worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.  

The 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing longlist 

• 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 (OtterBarry 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 Deadlands by Anthony McGowan, illustrated by Keith Robinson (Oneworld Publications) 
• Tyger by S F 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  

• 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 S F 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)