The longlists for the Yoto Carnegie Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, were announced on February 15.

A total of 31 books have been recognized, with 15 books selected for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing longlist, and 18 for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration. (The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration was formerly called the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal.)

The Yoto Carnegies celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration and are unique in being judged by children’s librarians. The longlists were chosen from 125 nominations by the judging panel, which includes 12 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

THE 2023 YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR WRITING LONGLIST

• The Light in Everything by Katya Balen (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• When Shadows Fall by Sita Brahmachari, illustrated by Natalie Sirett (Little Tiger)
• Medusa by Jessie Burton, illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Blackthorn Branch by Elen Caldecott (Andersen Press)
• Running with Horses by Jason Cockcroft (Andersen Press)
• The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch (Little Island)
• The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• Green Rising by Lauren James (Walker Books)
• When Our Worlds Collided by Danielle Jawando (Simon & Schuster Children’s)
• Needle by Patrice Lawrence (Barrington Stoke)
• Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, illustrated by Tom de Freston (Orion Children’s Books)
• Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick (Barrington Stoke)
• I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (Hodder Children’s Books)
• The Silver Chain by Jion Sheibani (Hot Key Books)
• The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros (Firefly Press) 

THE 2023 YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR ILLUSTRATION LONGLIST

• John Agard’s Windrush Child illustrated by Sophie Bass, written by John Agard (Walker Books)
• Rescuing Titanic illustrated and written by Flora Delargy (Wide Eyed Editions)
• Flooded illustrated and written by Mariajo Illustrajo (Frances Lincoln)
• Journey to the Last River illustrated by Teddy Keen, written by The Unknown Adventurer (Frances Lincoln)
• Medusa illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill, written by Jessie Burton (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Fog Catcher’s Daughter illustrated by Alan Marks, written by Marianne McShane (Walker Books)
• Once Upon a Tune illustrated and written by James Mayhew (Otter-Barry Books)
• Dadaji’s Paintbrush illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane, written by Rashmi Sirdeshpande (Andersen Press)
• Alte Zachen: Old Things illustrated by Benjamin Phillips, written by Ziggy Hanaor (Circada Books)
• The Worlds We Leave Behind illustrated by Levi Pinfold, written by A. F. Harrold (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Visible Sounds illustrated by Yu Rong, written by Yin Jianling (UCLan Publishing)
• Choices illustrated and written by Roozeboos (Child’s Play)
• The Queen in the Cave illustrated and written by Júlia Sardà (Walker Studio)
• Saving the Butterfly illustrated by Gill Smith, written by Helen Cooper (Walker Books)
• The Comet illustrated and written by Joe Todd-Stanton (Flying Eye Books)
• The Queen on our Corner illustrated by Nia Tudor, written by Lucy Christopher (Lantana)
• The Baker by the Sea illustrated and written by Paula White (Templar Books)
• Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear illustrated by Jeet Zdung, written by Trang Nguyen (Kingfisher)

Several works of possible genre interest are highlighted in the press release:

Climate change and conservation return as an important thread to this year’s Writing longlist, including Green Rising by Lauren James, the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League, and Manon Steffan Ros, who examines a post-apocalyptic future in The Blue Book of Nebo – now translated into English from the multi-award-winning Welsh language original.

New worlds or alternate realities are explored in The Worlds We Leave Behind, by A. F. Harrold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold, and The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch.

The shortlists for the 2023 Yoto Carnegies will be announced on March 17. The winners’ ceremony will be streamed from The Barbican on June 21. The winners will each receive £500 worth of books to donate to their local library, a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.

[Based on a press release.]