Winners of 2021 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals announced

June 16th 2021

The winners of this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest and best-loved book awards for children and young people, were revealed today. Both winning books were announced at a virtual, daytime event, hosted by University Challenge Star and author Bobby Seagull and livestreamed from The British Library.

• Poet and novelist Jason Reynolds secures first Carnegie Medal win for Look Both Ways (Knights Of)
• Author and illustrator Sydney Smith wins second Kate Greenaway Medal for Small in the City (Walker Books)
• Manjeet Mann’s debut novel Run Rebel (Penguin Random House Children’s) and Sharon King-Chai’s Starbird (Two Hoots) take home the Shadowers’ Choice Awards from the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medal shortlists respectively

The Medals celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration respectively and are unique in being judged by librarians. Both winning books explore urban landscapes through a child’s eyes, with Chair of Judges Ellen Krajewski describing them as ‘compelling stories told from a child’s viewpoint that deliver a powerful emotional punch.’

This is the first Carnegie Medal win for US poet and author Jason Reynolds – who is the US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature – following a shortlisting in 2019 for Long Way Down. Look Both Ways (Knights Of) is a collection of 10 standalone but intertwined, interconnecting stories chronicling the 15 minutes of unsupervised independence of the walk home from school. The judges called it a “breathtakingly gripping”, “innocent tale which covers hard hitting issues including bullying, homophobia and bereavement” that “challenges the reader to see differently in an engaging and fresh way.”

This is the second Kate Greenaway Medal win for Canadian author and illustrator Sydney Smith following the success of Town is by the Sea in 2018. Small in the City (Walker Books) depicts claustrophobic and overwhelming urban streets from a child’s viewpoint. The judges called it an “evocative and immersive book” that is “understated whilst also managing to build to a moving emotional end with the themes of being lost, alone, and overlooked, taking on a much wider resonance.”

Ellen Krajewski, Chair of the 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals judging panel, comments:

“This year’s Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal winners are compelling stories told from a child’s viewpoint that deliver a powerful emotional punch. Look Both Ways is a breathtakingly gripping collection of intertwined stories brimming with humour, empathy, and humanity. Each story has its own heart with deft characterisation and narrative voices that feel child-like and completely real and recognisable making it identifiable for children and adults alike. It’s such an innocent tale which covers hard hitting issues including bullying, homophobia and bereavement. The title sums up the way it challenges the reader to see differently in an engaging and fresh way.

“Small in the City is an evocative and immersive book which tells quite an ordinary story in such an extraordinary way that it surprises you. It conveys just how it feels to be small in an over-powering city. It’s understated whilst also managing to build to a moving emotional end with the themes of being lost, alone, and overlooked, taking on a much wider resonance. It’s a striking and atmospheric example of artistic storytelling skills which is almost cinematic in its depiction of a child’s view of an imposing urban landscape.

Look Both Ways and Small in the City are available to buy.