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Carnegie Medal Background -Reply
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From: Ginny Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 1995 11:12:00 -600
Good question, Cathy!
According to the brief information in Children's Books in Print
(Volume I, 1995) "the Carnegie Medal has been presented annually since 1937 by the British Library Association to mark the centenary of Andrew Carnegie's birth, and to encourage writers of outstanding children's books. In order to be eligible, these books must be written in English and first published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The winner receives a medal." The Children's Books in Print cumulative listing of winners goes back ten years. Notice: books from the United Kingdom - quite a geographic range!
The Kate Greenaway Award has been administered by the British Library Association since 1953. Eligibility is similar to the Carnegie Award.
Children's Books Awards & Prizes (NYC, Children's Book Council, 1992) indicates that since 1991, "Peters Library Service makes a substantial annual grant, matched by the Business Sponsorship Incentive Scheme of the British government, to the Library Association to enable it to publicize both the Carnegie and Greenaway awards programs aggressively throughout Britain.. as of the 1991 award year, the winner can select an organization to receive [a sizable gift] of books."
As many of you know, the CCBC receives review copies of the books published in the U.S. A. for children & young adults almost as soon as they are published. Sometimes a U.S. publisher co-publishes a British book, and it is published on both sides of the Atlantic at almost the same time. Sometimes U.S. publication rights are acquired for a British children's book after it is successful there. The books winning the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards are usually published in the U.S.A., if not before winning either award, most certainly afterwards.
People using children's books in CCBC collections in the CCBC can quickly see which awards and distinctions books have received. We record much of this information on the inside front endpages of each book. Books that won the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards in past years are part of the CCBC Basic Collection. The CCBC also maintains extensive files about children's book awards and distinctions. We define an "award" as an honor going to one book; a "distinction" means that a book is named as one of the best of the year, eg. one of the Teachers' Choices (IRA), CCBC CHOICES, Outstanding Science Trade Books (NCST), etc.
I wonder if there is as much mis-information, myth and rumor "out there" about the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards selection process as there is about the process for selecting the ALA Caldecott and Newbery Awards!
This morning I looked into the CCBC file on the Carnegie Award and discovered a copy of an article from the Library Association Record
(March, 1979) describing some of the workings of the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards. No doubt there have have been revisions and modifications since 1979. Two distinctive features caught my attention. 1) Book Nominations. In 1979 nominations (up to three books) could be made by all members of the British Library Association. In 1979 Youth Library Group (YLG) branches held meetings at which eligible books were discussed after which group nominations were often submitted. 2) Selection Committee membership. The committee in 1979 numbered eleven, one each from each YLG, nominated by that YLG - plus a chair and vice-chair. The Selection Committee in 1979 typically had four or five members from the previous year, but members usually did not serve for longer than two or three years. I have the impression from that article that in 1979 the same committee selected the winners and highly commended books for both awards. Perhaps someone in the CCBC-NET community can share up-to?te facts about that selection process.
Why are those features distinctive? I'll briefly compare a couple two aspects concerning the N. and C. award process. 1) Book Nominations: Although ALSC members are encouraged to communicate suggestions to committee members and regional discussion outcomes
(such as the CCBC award discussion outcomes) are reported to the committees, the actual committee members themselves make the formal nominations (up to six books). 2) N. & C. Award Committees. The ALA/Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Newbery and Caldecott Committees have been separate committees since 1980.
(Trivia for the day: I served on the last combined N-C committee and I chaired the first separate Newbery Committee.) The ALSC committees have entirely new members each year, including the chairs. Half of the fourteen ALSC N. and C. committee members are elected by the ALSC membership and half are appointed by the vice president-elect. An ALSC Nominating Committee nominates fourteen people for each committee and two for each chair.
Maybe some of the former Newbery Committee members in the CCBC-NET community can comment first-hand on how they became members of the all a little about what you did during your "committee" year. What was it like for you on a monthly basis, for example? We know that the Newbery committee met during three ALA conferences: January; June or July; and January or February. How did you organize the "work" of reading the hundreds of eligible books? What were some of the other aspects of serving on the Newbery committee from your perspective?
Incidentally, Margaret Mahy's The Haunting won the 1983 Esther Glen Award, and The Changeover won the 1985 Esther Glen Award in New Zealand. This award is "offered annually and awarded when merited"
(underscoring by GMK) by the New Zealand Library Association to a
"distinguished contribution to New Zealand literature for children by an author who is a citizen or resident of New Zealand." (quoted from the Children's Book Council source cited above)
Cathy, this is probably more - as well as less - than you wanted to know!
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at ccbc-net.soemadison.wisc.edu
Before everyone gets settled in for discussing the Mahy books, I'm wondering if the group could enlighten me about the Carnegie Medal. Ginny and company have told us that it is the British equivalent of the Newbery Medal. Is the selection process the same? What is the residency requirement? Is there an award for illustrating as well? Thanks for the information. Cathy Retzer Medford Elementary School Medford, WI medforcr at llwisc.ll.pbs.org
Received on Wed 02 Aug 1995 12:12:00 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 1995 11:12:00 -600
Good question, Cathy!
According to the brief information in Children's Books in Print
(Volume I, 1995) "the Carnegie Medal has been presented annually since 1937 by the British Library Association to mark the centenary of Andrew Carnegie's birth, and to encourage writers of outstanding children's books. In order to be eligible, these books must be written in English and first published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The winner receives a medal." The Children's Books in Print cumulative listing of winners goes back ten years. Notice: books from the United Kingdom - quite a geographic range!
The Kate Greenaway Award has been administered by the British Library Association since 1953. Eligibility is similar to the Carnegie Award.
Children's Books Awards & Prizes (NYC, Children's Book Council, 1992) indicates that since 1991, "Peters Library Service makes a substantial annual grant, matched by the Business Sponsorship Incentive Scheme of the British government, to the Library Association to enable it to publicize both the Carnegie and Greenaway awards programs aggressively throughout Britain.. as of the 1991 award year, the winner can select an organization to receive [a sizable gift] of books."
As many of you know, the CCBC receives review copies of the books published in the U.S. A. for children & young adults almost as soon as they are published. Sometimes a U.S. publisher co-publishes a British book, and it is published on both sides of the Atlantic at almost the same time. Sometimes U.S. publication rights are acquired for a British children's book after it is successful there. The books winning the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards are usually published in the U.S.A., if not before winning either award, most certainly afterwards.
People using children's books in CCBC collections in the CCBC can quickly see which awards and distinctions books have received. We record much of this information on the inside front endpages of each book. Books that won the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards in past years are part of the CCBC Basic Collection. The CCBC also maintains extensive files about children's book awards and distinctions. We define an "award" as an honor going to one book; a "distinction" means that a book is named as one of the best of the year, eg. one of the Teachers' Choices (IRA), CCBC CHOICES, Outstanding Science Trade Books (NCST), etc.
I wonder if there is as much mis-information, myth and rumor "out there" about the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards selection process as there is about the process for selecting the ALA Caldecott and Newbery Awards!
This morning I looked into the CCBC file on the Carnegie Award and discovered a copy of an article from the Library Association Record
(March, 1979) describing some of the workings of the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards. No doubt there have have been revisions and modifications since 1979. Two distinctive features caught my attention. 1) Book Nominations. In 1979 nominations (up to three books) could be made by all members of the British Library Association. In 1979 Youth Library Group (YLG) branches held meetings at which eligible books were discussed after which group nominations were often submitted. 2) Selection Committee membership. The committee in 1979 numbered eleven, one each from each YLG, nominated by that YLG - plus a chair and vice-chair. The Selection Committee in 1979 typically had four or five members from the previous year, but members usually did not serve for longer than two or three years. I have the impression from that article that in 1979 the same committee selected the winners and highly commended books for both awards. Perhaps someone in the CCBC-NET community can share up-to?te facts about that selection process.
Why are those features distinctive? I'll briefly compare a couple two aspects concerning the N. and C. award process. 1) Book Nominations: Although ALSC members are encouraged to communicate suggestions to committee members and regional discussion outcomes
(such as the CCBC award discussion outcomes) are reported to the committees, the actual committee members themselves make the formal nominations (up to six books). 2) N. & C. Award Committees. The ALA/Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Newbery and Caldecott Committees have been separate committees since 1980.
(Trivia for the day: I served on the last combined N-C committee and I chaired the first separate Newbery Committee.) The ALSC committees have entirely new members each year, including the chairs. Half of the fourteen ALSC N. and C. committee members are elected by the ALSC membership and half are appointed by the vice president-elect. An ALSC Nominating Committee nominates fourteen people for each committee and two for each chair.
Maybe some of the former Newbery Committee members in the CCBC-NET community can comment first-hand on how they became members of the all a little about what you did during your "committee" year. What was it like for you on a monthly basis, for example? We know that the Newbery committee met during three ALA conferences: January; June or July; and January or February. How did you organize the "work" of reading the hundreds of eligible books? What were some of the other aspects of serving on the Newbery committee from your perspective?
Incidentally, Margaret Mahy's The Haunting won the 1983 Esther Glen Award, and The Changeover won the 1985 Esther Glen Award in New Zealand. This award is "offered annually and awarded when merited"
(underscoring by GMK) by the New Zealand Library Association to a
"distinguished contribution to New Zealand literature for children by an author who is a citizen or resident of New Zealand." (quoted from the Children's Book Council source cited above)
Cathy, this is probably more - as well as less - than you wanted to know!
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at ccbc-net.soemadison.wisc.edu
Before everyone gets settled in for discussing the Mahy books, I'm wondering if the group could enlighten me about the Carnegie Medal. Ginny and company have told us that it is the British equivalent of the Newbery Medal. Is the selection process the same? What is the residency requirement? Is there an award for illustrating as well? Thanks for the information. Cathy Retzer Medford Elementary School Medford, WI medforcr at llwisc.ll.pbs.org
Received on Wed 02 Aug 1995 12:12:00 PM CDT
