The longlists for the Yoto Carnegie Medal and the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, were announced on February 16.

The Yoto Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. The Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. The winner of each receives £500 worth of books to donate to their local library, a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.

A total of 148 books were nominated for the 2022 Medals; 76 books for the Carnegie Medal and 72 for the Kate Greenaway Medal. This includes two titles that have received nominations in both Medal categories. The longlists were chosen by the judging panel, which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

There are 33 longlisted books – 18 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal and 15 for the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal – with themes of community and connection, shared humanity and friendship all explored in the titles.

The shortlists will be announced on March 16, and the winners on June 16. The two books of genre interest have their covers displayed.

THE 2022 YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL LONGLIST

• October, October by Katya Balen, illustrated by Angela Harding (Bloomsbury)
• Musical Truth by Jeffrey Boakye, illustrated by Ngadi Smart (Faber)
• We Were Wolves by Jason Cockcroft (Andersen Press) *
• Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle (Andersen Press)
• When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten (Pushkin Children’s Books)
• The Climbers by Keith Gray (Barrington Stoke)
• Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock (Faber)
• The Wolf Road by Richard Lambert (Everything With Words)
• Rat by Patrice Lawrence (Oxford University Press)
• The Crossing by Manjeet Mann (Penguin Children’s Books)
• Grow by Luke Palmer (Firefly Press)
• The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)
• Tsunami Girl by Julian Sedgwick, illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada (Guppy Books) *
• Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas (Walker Books)
• Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle (Andersen Press)
• In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner (Andersen Press)
• Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

THE 2022 YOTO KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL LONGLIST

• While You’re Sleeping illustrated by John Broadley, written by Mick Jackson (Pavilion Books)
• Drawn Across Borders illustrated and written by George Butler (Walker Books)
• The Midnight Fair illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio, written by Gideon Sterer (Walker Books)
• Wild Child illustrated by Barry Falls, written by Dara McAnulty (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• A Cat Called Waverley illustrated and written by Debi Gliori (Otter-Barry Books)
• Too Much Stuff illustrated and written by Emily Gravett (Two Hoots)
• Diamonds illustrated and written by Armin Greder (Allen & Unwin Children’s Books)
• Over the Shop illustrated by Qin Leng, written by JonArno Lawson (Walker Books)
• Long Way Down illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff, written by Jason Reynolds (Faber)
• The Invisible illustrated and written by Tom Percival (Simon & Schuster)
• Milo Imagines the World illustrated by Christian Robinson, written by Matt de la Pena (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• Shu Lin’s Grandpa illustrated by Yu Rong, written by Matt Goodfellow (Otter-Barry Books)
• I Talk Like a River illustrated by Sydney Smith, written by Jordan Scott (Walker Books)
• The House by the Lake illustrated by Britta Teckentrup, written by Thomas Harding (Walker Books)
• The Wanderer illustrated and written by Peter Van den Ende (Pushkin Children’s Books)