Recommended Reading
Author and illustrator Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick has won the 20th Bisto Children's Book of the Year for her picturebook There.
The results of the twentieth Bisto Children's Book of the Year Awards were announced on Monday 24 May 2010 at a ceremony in The Hugh Lane Gallery. Marie-Louise was present to accept the award and was presented with a cheque for €10,000 by Senator David Norris, Sean Brett, Marketing Controller Premier Foods and Chairperson of the Judging Panel, Maire Uí Mhaicín.
This is the third time that Marie-Louise has picked up this prestigious award, winning in 2001 and 2003 for her two other nominated picture books You, Me and the Big Blue Sea and Izzy and Skunk
Four other awards were made
• Bisto Honour Award - Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd
• Bisto Honour Award for Illustration - There by Marie Louise Fitzpatrick
• Eilís Dillon Award - Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob Burke
• Children's Choice Award - Chalkline by Jane Mitchell
The Bisto Book of the Year Award 2009/10 Shortlist is as follows. This year's eagerly awaited list featured ten books, which were in the running for the most prestigious awards for children's books in Ireland. Full details of each title below (list in alphabetical order by book title)
 An Greasaí Bróg agus na Síoga- Caitríona Hastings and Andrew Whitson
 Chalkline - Jane Mitchell
 Colm and The Lazarus Key - Kieran Mark Crowley
Gluaiseacht - Alan Titley
 Lincoln and His Boys - Pj Lynch
 Solace of the Road- Siobhan Dowd
 The Eyeball Collector- FE Higgins
 The Gates- John Connolly
 The Third Pig Detective Agency- Bob Burke
There - Marie Louise Fitzpatrick
The Bisto Children's Book of the Year Awards, in partnership with CBI are presented annually in recognition of excellence in writing and/or illustration of books for young people. The awards are administered by CBI, the national organisation for children's books and sponsored by Bisto gravy. The awards are open to any children's book by an author and/or illustrator born or resident in Ireland, written in Irish or English and published between 1st January and 31st December each year.
Speaking about the shortlist, Maire Uí Mhaicín Chair of the 2009-10 Judging Panel, said: "This year's shortlist provides challenging and entertaining reading material: the works included span across the ranges of fantasy, mystery, folklore and the gritty realities being endured by young people as they cope with life changes. The variety of books shortlisted will ensure satisfying reading material for readers of different ages, interests and reading levels."
Sean Brett, Marketing Director, Premier Foods Ireland added: "We are delighted to sponsor these prestigious book awards for the 20th year. Since the initial launch of the ‘Bistos' back in 1991, we have seen the awards go from strength to strength and with the introduction of the Children's Choice Award this year we are giving voice to the children's vote and will recognise their favourite. I wish all of the authors & illustrators the very best of luck!"
CILIP Carnegie/Greenaway Nominations for 2010
CILIP Carnegie Medal Winner 2010
A double first for Neil Gaiman as he add UK's CILIP Carnegie Medal to the US Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book.
Early this afternoon Neil Gaiman accepted the most sought after prize for children's fiction in the UK, the 2010 CILIP Carnegie Medal for The Graveyard Book. The Graveyard Book has already won the 2009 Newbery Medal, the prestigious US equivalent of the Carnegie, making Neil Gaiman the first author to complete the 'double' being awarded both these internationally recognised prizes for children's fiction for the same book ensuring his place in literary history. The Graveyard Book fought off stiff competition for the 2010 CILIP Carnegie. The shortlist included books by acclaimed writers and former winners, Terry Pratchett and Philip Reeve, as well as strong novels from Helen Grant, Laurie Halse Anderson, Julie Hearn, Patrick Ness and Marcus Sedgwick. The Graveyard Book also narrowly missed a 'triple' in 2010. Illustrated with evocative line drawings by Chris Riddell, it was also shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for outstanding illustration.
Asked what winning the CILIP Carnegie Medal means to him, Neil Gaiman commented: "For my seventh birthday I was given a boxed set of the Narnia Books by CS Lewis. The last of them, 'The Last Battle' had the words 'Winner of the Carnegie Medal' on it. I did not know what the Carnegie Medal was, but I knew it was something important. It was the first literary award I had ever heard of. And if the Narnia books had won it, then it had to be the most important literary award there ever was. Somewhere deep inside me, but not too deep, a seven-year old version of me is amazed and delighted that he's written a book that was given the most important literary award there ever was. And nothing you can say about Bookers or Nobels or Pulitzers will convince him otherwise." The Graveyard Book, for readers of nine years and over, is the spooky reworking of Kipling's The Jungle Book. The story opens with the violent murder of a toddler's parents and sister that manages to be horrifying without mentioning a drop of blood. The two year old, having escaped their fate, finds himself in a graveyard. There he is adopted by its resident ghosts who bring him up and call him Bod, short for Nobody Owens.
"This is an extraordinary book in every way: the style, plot and quality of the writing," says Margaret Pemberton, Chair of the Judges. "With great skill Gaiman has created a gripping page turner, expertly supported by well developed characters, that is full of humour and humanity. Not a word is wasted in this episodic tale that draws the reader through Bod's childhood to a well crafted and satisfying conclusion. A worthy winner."
The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Winner 2010
Freya Blackwood Wins 2010 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for her illustrations inspired by the memory of a beloved pet dog.
Australian illustrator Freya Blackwood has won the 2010 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK's most prestigious children's illustration award for Harry & Hopper (text by Margaret Wild). The book movingly portrays a young boy, Harry, coming to terms with the sudden death of his much-loved dog, Hopper. Blackwood's pictures for Harry & Hopper were partly inspired by one of her own childhood pets; Furlani, a beautiful grey whippet who met a similarly sad and sudden end.
Of this year's winning book, Margaret Pemberton, Chair of the CILIP Kate Greenaway judging panel comments: "In Harry & Hopper, Freya Blackwood excels in her use of muted colour, perspective, and exterior and interior space to give a powerful take on the father-son relationship, and a much-loved pet's death. A sensitive issue for young children is beautifully handled, with Harry's emotions and memories of Hopper expressed visually to great effect."
Freya Blackwood was born in 1975 in Edinburgh whilst her parents were travelling round the UK in a VW camper van. She grew up in Orange, New South Wales, the city where she currently lives with her four year-old daughter, Ivy. Before becoming a full-time illustrator, Blackwood lived in New Zealand where she worked on the set of the Lord of the Rings films, painting thousands of hobbit feet.
For a full listing of nominations for both the CILIP Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for 2010 please click here
CILIP Carnegie Medal Winner 2009
BOG CHILD by Siobhan Dowd
Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds something that makes his heart stop. Curled up deep in the bog is the body of the child. And it looks as if she’s been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the troubled world around him (it is 1980s Ireland), a little voice come to him in his dreams and the mystery of the bog child unfurls.
The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Winner 2009
HARRIS FINDS HIS FEET by Catherine Rayner
Harris, a very small hare with very big feet goes out with his Grandad and finds out not only how to hop high into the sky, climb to the tops of the mountains and run very fast, but also about the importance of finding his own feet.
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