The Carnegie book award winners were announced yesterday at a ceremony hosted at the Cambridge Theatre in London and live-streamed.
Carnegie Medal for Writing AND Shadowers’ Choice Award for Writing winner, Beth O’Brien for Wolf Siren
- Debut author Beth O’Brien wrote her reimagining of Red Riding Hood from a desire to tell stories that give voice to the nuanced spectrum of sight based on her own lived experience of visual impairment.
- Blindness is often misrepresented as total sight loss, but 93% of blind and partially sighted people experience a spectrum of light, movement, and colour, something Beth captures in her descriptions not of what she sees but how she sees using all the senses.
- Beth is studying for a PhD researching the (mis)representation of disability in fairytale retellings, often primarily used as a plot device to be cured, a symbol of evil, or to be supplemented by a superhuman ability.
- Beth grew up reading audio and large print books, something not easily affordable for many, and now advocates for greater accessibility, championing audiobooks as a form of reading every bit as valid as visual reading.
Carnegie Medal for Illustration winner, Kate Rolfe for Wiggling Words
- Wiggling Words is a deeply personal picture book that illustrates Kate’s experience with dyslexia.
- Like many dyslexic people, Kate often tried to hide how her brain worked for fear of being judged, but this book proved a catalyst for her unmasking. It visualises her dyslexia through typography as mountains of words and ends not as something to ‘overcome’ but to embrace, celebrating how her neurodiversity informs her creativity.
- Traditional book layouts can create barriers to reading, but Wiggling Words has been made with dyslexia friendly font, bold contrasting colours, and a cream background to make it more accessible. It is, importantly, a book for all children.
- Kate Rolfe was first shortlisted for the Medal for Illustration in 2025 for her debut book, Wolf and Bear.
Shadowers Award for Illustration winner, Aimée de Jongh for her graphic novel adaptation of Lord of the Flies (by William Golding, for ages 12+)
- The Shadowers Award has been voted for by children across the country and this book came out on top as their favourite illustrated book on the shortlist, with some children saying it contained “some of the most mind-blowing & jaw-dropping illustrations” they had ever seen and many young people expressing how the graphic novel format helped them understand the story better.
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