Both winning books were announced at a virtual, daytime event, hosted by University Challenge Star and author Bobby Seagull and livestreamed from The British Library.

ALCS is proud to continue its co-sponsorship of the Medals, which celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged by librarians. Both winning books explore urban landscapes through a child’s eyes, with Chair of Judges Ellen Krajewski describing them as ‘compelling stories told from a child’s viewpoint that deliver a powerful emotional punch.’

CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021 winner: Look Both Ways (Knights Of) by Jason Reynolds

This is the first Carnegie Medal win for US poet and author Jason Reynolds – who is the US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature – following a shortlisting in 2019 for Long Way Down. Look Both Ways (Knights Of) is a collection of 10 standalone but intertwined, interconnecting stories chronicling the 15 minutes of unsupervised independence of the walk home from school. The judges called it a “breathtakingly gripping”, “innocent tale which covers hard hitting issues including bullying, homophobia and bereavement” that “challenges the reader to see differently in an engaging and fresh way.”

CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2021 winner: Small in the City (Walker Books) by Sydney Smith

This is the second Kate Greenaway Medal win for Canadian author and illustrator Sydney Smith following the success of Town is by the Sea in 2018. Small in the City (Walker Books) depicts claustrophobic and overwhelming urban streets from a child’s viewpoint. The judges called it an “evocative and immersive book” that is “understated whilst also managing to build to a moving emotional end with the themes of being lost, alone, and overlooked, taking on a much wider resonance.”

Tens of thousands of young people who shadow the Medals have also been reading and debating this year’s shortlists and have voted for their favourites to win the Shadowers’ Choice Awards. Announced today by a selection of young Shadowers, the Shadowers’ Choice for the Carnegie Medal is Run Rebel, a debut novel by Manjeet Mann, about a girl who runs in quiet rebellion to escape an arranged marriage. The Shadowers Choice for the Kate Greenaway Medal is Starbird, illustrated and written by Sharon King-Chai, a mythical tale of a singing Starbird caged by a Moon King.

Now in its third year, this award has evolved out of CILIP’s Diversity Review, which identified opportunities to empower and celebrate the young people involved in the Medals through the shadowing scheme.

The 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are sponsored by Peters and ALCS, and funded by Carnegie UK Trust.

Find out more about the winners on the CKG website: carnegiegreenaway.org.uk

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About CILIP

ALCS and CILIP have been in partnership for over a decade. The hugely successful CILIP CKG Shadowing Scheme reaches an estimated 100,000 children each year across the country. Participating children read the books shortlisted for the CKG Awards, discuss with each other which they think is the best, post reviews and vote for their favourite books before the official winners are announced. The CILIP CKG Shadowing Scheme is one of the UK’s major ‘reading for pleasure’ initiatives and is almost exclusively run as an extracurricular activity by English teachers and school librarians.