Guardian Children's Fiction Prize


The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award is a literary award that annually recognises one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It is conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It is a lifetime award in that previous winners are not eligible. At least since 2000 the prize is £1,500.
The shortlist of no more than four books and the winner are selected by three children's fiction writers, almost always including the latest winner. The Guardian calls it the only children's book award winner selected by peers. The newspaper's children's book editor Julia Eccleshare participates in selection of the longlist and thereafter chairs the panel of final judges.
In recent years there is a longlist of eight books announced in May or June, a shortlist of no more than four announced in September, and a single winner. The longlist is the foundation for a [|summer program] of reading, reviewing, and discussion.
The U.K. publishers of eligible books must enter them for the prize with a fee, although the chair may call for submission. The publication year is August to July of the current year, but May, June, and July books must be submitted in advance. Books originally published in another language are eligible in English translation for five years.

Current rendition

won the 2014 Guardian Prize, announced 13 November, for The Dark Wild from Quercus Publishing. It is the second book of a trilogy inaugurated by The Last Wild, whose conclusion The Wild Beyond is forthcoming April 2015.
The judges were Guardian children's book editor Julia Eccleshare and three British children's writers : 2012 prize winner Frank Cottrell Boyce, Gillian Cross, and Katherine Rundell.
The longlist of eight was announced late in June, the shortlist of four early in October.
DiCamillo and Flora & Ulysses won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association as the most distinguished US children's book published during 2013.
Torday was inspired to write books by the success of his father, Paul Torday, whose first book was published in 2006 when he was 59 years old.
;Latest rendition
Rebecca Stead of New York City won the 2013 Guardian Prize, covering books published August 2012 to July 2013, for Liar & Spy, which was published by Andersen Press in the UK and Wendy Lamb Books in the US. Stead became the first winning writer from outside the British Commonwealth in the second year that all new children's books published in Britain were eligible.

History

The prize was established in 1965 as the "only children's book award made to writers by their fellow authors" and inaugurated by the 1967 award to Leon Garfield for Devil in the Fog. Through the 2000 prize, announced 28 March, it recognised one book published in the UK during the preceding calendar year.
Between the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 cycles, the prize schedule was rearranged to culminate in October during Booktrust Children's Book Week. "iction for children aged seven and above, published in the UK between January 2000 and September 2001" was eligible for the 2001 prize. Publishers were required to submit no more than ten entries by April 30.
At the same time, a summer program was inaugurated, using the newspaper's educational website and featuring a longlist announced in July. The program initially comprised merely an opportunity to vote for longlist favourites, comments by the judges to guide summer reading, and advice on "how to build a classic library of children's books". A version of the ongoing Young Critics contest was inaugurated in 2002 and the program has expanded since then to include online discussion and author interviews and appearances. Meanwhile, announcement of the longlist has advanced to late May or early June and announcement of the winner has retreated to November.

Conditions 2012

Routinely, eligible books are entered for the prize by their UK publishers, as many as ten books each although chair Eccleshare may call for particular submissions.
As of 2012, the fee is 25 pounds and one copy of the book; at an intermediate stage, 24 copies of any book under consideration. Longlisted books must provide their first chapters for online publication and cooperate with a summer program that includes author interviews. Shortlisted authors and publishers must work more closely with the newspaper on promotion.

Winners

Through 2015 there have been 51 Prizes awarded in 49 years covering 1966 to mid-2015 publications. There were co-winners in 1992 and 1996.
YearWriterTitlePublisher
2016Alex WheatleCrongton KnightsAtom Books
2015David AlmondA Song for Ella GreyHodder Children's Books
2014Piers TordayThe Dark WildQuercus Publishing
2013Rebecca SteadLiar & SpyAndersen Press
2012Frank Cottrell BoyceThe Unforgotten CoatWalker Books
2011Andy MulliganReturn To RibblestropSimon & Schuster
2010Michelle PaverGhost HunterOrion
2009Mal PeetExposureWalker Books
2008Patrick NessThe Knife of Never Letting GoWalker Books
2007Jenny ValentineFinding Violet ParkHarperCollins
2006Philip ReeveA Darkling PlainScholastic UK
2005Kate ThompsonThe New PolicemanBodley Head
2004Meg RosoffHow I Live NowPuffin
2003Mark HaddonThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time David Fickling
2002Sonya HartnettThursday's ChildWalker Books
2001Kevin Crossley-HollandThe Seeing StoneOrion
2000Jacqueline WilsonThe Illustrated MumTransworld
1999Susan PriceThe Sterkarm HandshakeScholastic UK
1998Henrietta BranfordFire, Bed and BoneWalker Books
1997Melvin BurgessJunkPenguin
1996Philip PullmanNorthern Lights
Scholastic UK
1996Alison PrinceThe Sherwood HeroMacmillan
1995Lesley HowarthMapHeadWalker Books
1994Sylvia WaughThe MennymsJulia MacRae
1993William MayneLow TideJonathan Cape
1992Rachel AndersonPaper FacesOxford
1992Hilary McKayThe ExilesGollancz
1991Robert WestallThe Kingdom by the SeaMethuen
1990Anne FineGoggle-EyesHamish Hamilton
1989Geraldine McCaughrean A Pack of LiesOxford
1988Ruth ThomasThe RunawaysHutchinson
1987James AldridgeThe True Story of Spit MacPhee Viking Kestrel
1986Ann PillingHenry's LegViking Kestrel
1985Ted HughesWhat is the TruthFaber
1984Dick King-SmithThe Sheep-Pig
Gollancz
1983Anita DesaiThe Village by the SeaHeinemann
1982Michelle MagorianGoodnight Mr TomKestrel
1981Peter CarterThe SentinelsOxford
1980Ann SchleeThe VandalMacmillan
1979Andrew DaviesConrad's WarBlackie
1978Diana Wynne JonesCharmed LifeMacmillan
1977Peter DickinsonThe Blue HawkGollancz
1976Nina BawdenThe Peppermint PigGollancz
1975Winifred CawleyGran at CoalgateOxford
1974Barbara WillardThe Iron LilyLongman
1973Richard AdamsWatership DownRex Collings
1972Gillian AveryA Likely LadCollins
1971John ChristopherThe GuardiansHamish Hamilton
1970K. M. PeytonThe Flambards trilogy Oxford
1969Joan AikenThe Whispering MountainJonathan Cape
1968Alan GarnerThe Owl ServiceCollins
1967Leon GarfieldDevil-in-the-FogConstable

Winners of multiple awards

Six books have won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Carnegie Medal, which annually recognizes an outstanding book for children or young adults.
Northern Lights was named "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the 70-year celebration of that award in 2007.
2003. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon won the 2003 Whitbread Awards as the year's best novel and the "Book of the Year" across all five categories. The Guardian children's book editor Eccleshare wrote, "Published on both an adult and a children's list, it is one of the few titles for which the ubiquitous claim of "crossover" is not a gimmick. It genuinely has equal, though different, appeal to all readers – 15-year-old Christopher Boone's narrative voice is at once childlike in its observations, and adult in its profundity."
2001. The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland won the Tir na n-Og Award, best English-language book for young people with "authentic Welsh background".

Summer program

The Young Critics competition was inaugurated in 2002 and is still underway. The newspaper solicited 200-word reviews of books on the longlist from children 16 and younger, with the prize being "a day editing and printing up their reviews".
Ten years later there are dual competitions for children 17 and younger, one for individuals and one for teams of at least four schoolmates. There are cash prizes and free sets of the longlist books to the winners. Up to 30 students from the winning school also get a day at one Guardian site.
The Young Critics contests are judged by Eccleshare, who also helps select the longlist, and another Guardian editor.
Beside the competition there is a summer book club that features one longlist book each week, with author interviews and discussion.

Longlists and shortlists

Since the award cycle was rescheduled to conclude late in the year, between 2000 and 2001, a "longlist" of seven to ten books has been announced near mid-year, recently in May. During that same period, a shortlist of four to six books has been announced a few months later.
Bold and hash mark the winner, plus marks the rest of the shortlist, and dash marks the rest of the longlist.
2015
2014
DiCamillo and Flora & Ulysses won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association as the most distinguished U.S. children's book published during 2013.
The longlist and shortlist were announced 28 June and 4 October, both about a month later than usual.
2013
Stead was the first American winner of the Prize, which was opened to writers from outside the British Commonwealth in 2012.
Gardner and Maggot Moon won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognizing the best children's book published in Britain during the twelve months to August 2012.
2012
This was Eva Ibbotson's second year on the shortlist after her death October 2010.
Gantos and Dead End in Norvelt won the Newbery Medal for calendar year 2011's "most distinguished contribution to American children's literature".
2011
Mulligan made the 2012 Carnegie Medal shortlist with a different work, Trash. Almond, Evans, and Pitcher made that shortlist with their Guardian Prize contenders.
2010
Paver won for concluding a six-volume series. According to JE, "It's relatively rare for a book late in a series to win a major prize, but the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is such a towering achievement, as a whole as well as in terms of the individual books, that it was our unanimous choice." But Philip Reeve won in 2006 for concluding a four-volume series. On the shortlist, Gleitzman's Now was the third of a trilogy.
Brennan and Sedwick made the Carnegie Medal shortlist for the listed works.
2009
Hearn, Pratchett, and Sedwick made the Carnegie Medal shortlist for the listed works.
2008
Siobhan Dowd won the Carnegie Medal for the listed work; Cottrell Boyce and Ness made the shortlist.
2007
Valentine made the Carnegie Medal shortlist for the Prize-winning book.
2006
Reeve won for concluding a four-volume series. Almond and Cottrell Boyce made the Carnegie Medal shortlist for the listed works.
2005
Paver's book was the first in a series of six, the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. She won the 2010 Prize for the concluding volume, Ghost Hunter.
2004
Cottrell Boyce won the Carnegie Medal for the listed work; Morpurgo made the shortlist.
2003
The Curious Incident won two Whitbread Awards: Novel and overall "Book of the Year". Haddon and Almond made the Carnegie Medal shortlist for the listed works.
2002
Pratchett won the Carnegie Medal for the listed work; Laird, Newbery and Sedgwick made the shortlist.
2001
Naidoo won the Carnegie Medal for the listed work; Geras was a highly commended runner up.

Shortlists before 2001

The longlist was inaugurated July 2001 as the program was rescheduled to conclude in the fall rather than the spring. Through year 2000 the award covered books published during the preceding calendar year and the shortlist was the only official distinction other than the Prize itself.
2000
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1999 Susan Price The Sterkarm Handshake Scholastic UK
1998 Henrietta Branford Fire, Bed and Bone Walker Books
1997 Melvin Burgess Junk Penguin
Junk also won the 1996 Carnegie Medal.
1996 Philip Pullman Northern Lights
The Golden Compass Scholastic UK
and Alison Prince The Sherwood Hero Macmillan
Northern Lights also won the 1995 Carnegie Medal.
1995 Lesley Howarth MapHead Walker Books
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1994
1993
1992
1991
Cross and Wolf won the 1990 Carnegie Medal.
1987
1984
1983
1980
1975
1969