Carnegies shortlists Announced

Tuesday 11th March 2025: The Carnegies, the UK’s longest running and best loved book awards for children and young people, today announced their shortlists for 2025.

The shortlists for the 2025 Carnegies were announced at a panel event at London Book Fair on Tuesday 11th March.

The Carnegies celebrate outstanding reading experiences in books for children and young people.  They are judged by librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Medal voted for by children and young people.

The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives.

The shortlists were chosen from 119 nominations by the judging panel which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group.

The winners’ ceremony will be hosted live at the Cambridge Theatre and streamed on Thursday 19 June. 

Details of shortlisted titles

16 books have been shortlisted in total, with eight in each category for the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Carnegie Medal for Illustration; whittled down from 35 longlisted titles by the judging panel, which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group. The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives.

The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist is (alphabetical by author surname):

Treacle Town by Brian Conaghan (Andersen Press)
The Things We Leave Behind by Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)
King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK)
Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain (Walker Books)
Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald (Faber & Faber)
All That It Ever Meant by Blessing Musariri (Zephyr, Head of Zeus)
Play by Luke Palmer (Firefly Press)

The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Illustration shortlist is (alphabetical by illustrator surname):

The Invisible Story by Wen Hsu Chen, written by Jaime Gamboa, translated by Daniel Hahn (Lantana)
Grey by Lauren Child, written by Laura Dockrill (Walker Books)
I Love Books by Mariajo Ilustrajo (Quarto)
Clever Crow by Olivia Lomenech Gill, written by Chris Butterworth (Walker Books)
Letters in Charcoal by Juan Palomino, written by Irene Vasco, translated by Lawrence Schimel (Lantana)
Homebody by Theo Parish (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Wolf and Bear by Kate Rolfe (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Flying High by Yu Rong, written by Cao Wenxuan, translated by Simone-Davina Monnelly and Jake Hope (UCLan Publishing)

Further details here