Yoto Carnegie Medals go to Joseph Coelho and illustrator Aaron Becker

Children’s laureate Joseph Coelho was awarded the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing for his “multi-layered immersive” novel in verse, The Boy Lost in the Maze (Otter-Barry Books). He scooped the medal and a £5,000 cash prize at a ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre in central London today, with the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration going to American illustrator Aaron Becker.

Londoner Coelho’s “beautifully descriptive” novel, written in verse and illustrated by Kate Milner, portrays a boy’s journey into manhood and “cleverly integrates” the ancient legacy of the Minotaur with the contemporary journey of a teenager searching for his biological father. 

Maura Farrelly, chair of judges for The Yoto Carnegies 2024, said: “The Boy Lost in the Maze is an extraordinary novel told through poems about two boys searching for their fathers. It is a multi-layered immersive read which is playful in its language and construction and is as architectural as the mythical maze itself.”

Coelho’s tenure as Waterstones Children’s Laureate will come to an end in July. During his tenure he launched the ‘library marathon’ project—a personal mission which saw him visit and join a library in every region of the UK, a total of 213 nationwide, to highlight their importance and show the support they provide to local communities. 

An expert panel of children’s and youth librarians, including 12 librarians from CILIP: the library and information association’s Youth Libraries Group, judged the Carnegie Medals for 2024, with thousands of children and young people "shadowing" the judging process, debating and choosing their own winners (awarded as Shadowers’ Choice Medals).

Coelho said: “I am absolutely delighted to be the recipient of this year’s Carnegie Medal for Writing. The Boy Lost in the Maze is a novel that means a great deal to me and so to have it recognised by the UK’s, if not the world’s, most prestigious award for children’s literature feels particularly special. 

“I feel completely honoured that it is librarians who have deemed The Boy Lost in the Maze as worthy of a Carnegie medal and will forever be grateful to the team at Otter-Barry Books, illustrator Kate Milner and my agent Caroline Sheldon for helping me bring this story to bookshelves and into the hands of readers.”

This year’s winner for illustration proved to be a double hit. As well as a medal for his illustration and a £5,000 cash prize, bestselling American illustrator Becker also won a Shadowers’ Choice Medal for his wordless picture book, The Tree and the River, which charts the impact of humans on the earth’s landscapes.

Becker said: “I’m incredibly grateful to have received the Carnegie Medal for Illustration for The Tree and the River. It’s an honour and a testament to the power of wordless books.

“Growing up, I was always drawn to illustrations and would get lost in pictures. When I began drawing images of my own I was able to create a space where I could create, imagine and escape into worlds of my own design. Pictures became the way I processed the world. Within the pages of my wordless books, I invite readers to slow down and interpret stories on their own terms.”

The awards were hosted by Manjeet Mann, winner of the 2021 Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Writing for her debut novel, Run, Rebel. Her second novel, The Crossing, was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing in 2022.