Today the longlists for the 2019 Carnegie and Greenaway Awards are out - and what an interesting selection they are.
This post, however, is a cry, asking people to pause, and look at, and note down these longlist titles now, before the bigger, louder judging and shadowing gets underway in schools and elsewhere.
Briefly, as I understand things - and I may be wrong - the Carnegie Award goes to a book for the older, teen reader, where the quality of writing and the stretching of ideas and boundaries and - dare I suggest - final newsworthiness - are important factors.
The Greenaway, however, delights in illustrated books, although these may well not be picture books for the youngest, "on the lap" reader. These miniature,paper galleries are often sophisticated, subtle and intended for a wide range of ages. "Spot" they are not.
(Hmm. We'll keep quiet about the needs for the &-9 year old reader for today. )
Later in the year, when the 2019 shortlists and then Award Winners are announced will be god and great and all that.
However, those few titles will be the results of a long, busy and competitive process where - necessarily - some good stuff gets lost on the way: probably books that are too long for many to read in time, books that aren't as of the moment as others, books that don't have exactly the right voice or cover or theme, books and authors that are not yet famous enough and books that are just plain quirky.
The Awards, when they come, will be
wonderful and high profile and there will probably be a bit of title-tussling too.
But, NOW, RIGHT NOW, do reserve a bit of time for looking through these long-lists and admiring the range of books on offer for the young, teen and YA
readers today: it's time to love the glory of the long lists!
Here - I hope - is the link :https://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/press.php?release=pres_2019_longlists_announced.html
(And I'm sure some of those authors, writers and illustrators have been here, posting on Awfully Big Blog Adventure, before or even now. Come on, Team ABBA?)
3 comments:
I don't think the Carnegie is just for teens, though it sometimes seems that way; my book Emily's Surprising Adventure was longlisted back in the day, and that was for 7-10s. Maybe that's changed, though.
That's a good thing, Sue, if so as novels for the KS2 reader don't always get enough attention. Hooray for Emily. (Twas rather a sudden post.)
Here in Australia, the CBCA longlist is about to be announced next Tuesday. I am going to hear it!
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