The Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2016

Hans Christian Andersen Award Nominees 2016

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are presented every two years by IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to children’s literature. IBBY National Sections from 34 countries submitted the following 28 authors and 29 illustrators as candidates for the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Awards:

Author Nominees

Argentina: María Laura Devetach

Australia: Ursula Dubosarsky

Austria: Renate Welsh

Belgium: Bart Moeyaert

Brazil: Marina Colasanti

Canada: Kenneth Oppel

China: Cao Wenxuan

Croatia: Miro Gavran

Denmark: Louis Jensen

Egypt: Affaf Tobbala

Estonia: Piret Raud

France: Timothée De Fombelle

Germany: Mirjam Pressler

Greece: Eleni Dikaiou

Italy: Chiara Carminati

Japan: Eiko Kadono

Netherlands: Ted van Lieshout

New Zealand: Joy Cowley

Norway: Tor Åge Bringsværd

Palestine: Sonia Nimr

Russia: Andrey Usachev

Slovakia: Daniel Hevier

Slovenia: Svetlana Makarovič

Spain: Agustín Fernández Paz

Switzerland: Franz Hohler

Turkey: Gülçin Alpöge

UK: Elizabeth Laird

USA: Lois Lowry

Illustrator Nominees

Argentina: Diego Bianki

Australia: Bronwyn Bancroft

Austria: Linda Wolfsgruber

Belgium: Rascal (Pascal Nottet)

Brazil: Ciça Fittipaldi

Canada: Pierre Pratt

China: Zhu Chengliang

Colombia: Claudia Rueda

Denmark: Lilian Brøgger

France: François Place

Germany: Rotraut Susanne Berner

Greece: Lida Varvarousi

Iran: Pejman Rahimizadeh

Italy: Alessandro Sanna

Japan: Ken Katayama

Korea, Republic of: Suzy Lee

Latvia: Anita Paegle

Mexico: Gabriel Pacheco

Netherlands: Marit Törnqvist

Norway: Lisa Aisato

Russia: Mikhail Fedorov

Slovakia: Peter Uchnár

Slovenia: Marjan Manček

Spain: Miguelanxo Prado

Sweden: Eva Lindström

Switzerland: Etienne Delessert

Turkey: Feret Avci

UK: Chris Riddell

USA: Chris Raschka

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are the highest international awards given for children’s literature. The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) presents the awards biennially in recognition of a “lasting contribution to children’s literature.” The awards are given in two categories: authors (presented since 1956), and illustrators (presented since 1966) and the nominees are judged using the following criteria as a guide:

• • The aesthetic and literary qualities of writing and illustrating

• • The ability to see things from a child’s point of view

• • The ability to stretch the child’s curiosity as well as the child’s literary and creative imagination

• • Cultural differences in literary aesthetics are taken into account and appreciated

• • Freshness and innovation are a great advantage

• • The complete works of the author or illustrator, to date, are taken into consideration.

The National Sections of IBBY have the privilege of nominating one candidate for each award. The nominating section is responsible for presenting an informative dossier that reveals the breadth of the candidate’s work and shows the impact of her/his contributions. In addition to a selection of representative books, the following documentation is used to appraise each candidate:

• • Biographical information on the candidate

• • A statement on the candidate’s contribution to literature for young people

• • Selected appreciative essays, interviews or articles

• • A list of awards and other distinctions

• • Complete bibliography of the books for children by the candidate

• • List of translated editions, and their languages

• • Five of the most important titles by the candidate (even if out of print)

• • (Published) reviews of the books submitted to the Jury

The Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury selects the award recipients and comprises ten members who are nominated by the IBBY National Sections and selected by the IBBY Executive Committee. The members of IBBY elect the Jury President at its biennial General Assembly. Patricia Aldana was elected as President of the Jury in Mexico City, September 2014. She was born and brought up in Guatemala and attended school in the United States. In 1971 she moved to Canada and has been there ever since. She founded the publishing house Groundwood Books in 1978 and remained its publisher until 2012. She served as an EC member from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2004 to 2006 as vice president. Patsy was elected IBBY president in 2006 and served until 2010. As Jury President she presides over the following members of the 2016 international Jury:

Kirsten Bystrup – Librarian, Frederiksværk...