Carnegie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal books

Who this page is for

Parents, teachers, librarians and young readers looking for books that won or were shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing or the Kate Greenaway Medal, now called the Carnegie Medal for Illustration. Each entry says what the book is about and, where the publisher or catalogue gives one, the age range it is listed for. Longlisted and nominated books are not included.

Carnegie Medal winners

• 2025: Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald. Finlay, a nursing student who has come straight from care, and Banjo, who is settling in with a new foster family, try to find their way in Glasgow; a novel for teenage readers, listed for ages 12–18.
• 2022: October, October by Katya Balen. October lives wild in the woods with her dad until the year she turns eleven, when she rescues a baby owl, her dad falls from a tree and her mother comes back; for readers aged 9–11.
• 2019: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Xiomara, a teenager in Harlem, keeps her poems in a notebook under her bed until a slam poetry club brings them into the open; a YA novel about finding your voice that deals with race, feminism and faith, listed for ages 12–15.
• 2010: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is raised by ghosts in a graveyard while a man called Jack waits in the world of the living; this edition has illustrations by Chris Riddell and is listed for ages 12–15.
• 2000: The Other Side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo. After their mother is killed, twelve-year-old Sade and her little brother Femi are sent in secret from Nigeria to London, where they are abandoned; a Puffin Classics novel listed for ages 12–15.
• 1998: Skellig by David Almond. While his baby sister is ill in hospital, Michael finds a strange creature, part owl and part angel, in the garage of his new home; a 176-page story about love, loss and hope for readers aged 9–11.
• 1972: Watership Down by Richard Adams. Hazel, his brother Fiver and a few other rabbits leave their threatened warren and set out to find a new home on Watership Down; this is the 496-page 40th anniversary edition, and Penguin gives no age range for it.
• 1958: Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. Staying with his aunt and uncle for the summer, Tom hears the clock strike thirteen and finds a garden that only he can enter; a 65th anniversary edition with a foreword by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, for readers aged 9–11.
• 1942: The Little Grey Men by B.B. The last four gnomes in Britain set off along the Folly brook, from spring to autumn, to find their missing brother Cloudberry; illustrated by the author and listed for ages 6–8.

Carnegie Medal shortlisted books

• 2025: Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain. Shy science student Mel and songwriter Sid face a teenage pregnancy in a novel about first relationships and a young woman's right to choose her own future; Walker Books gives an interest age of 14 and over.
• 2024: Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan. When war reaches Paris and her father is arrested for his Resistance work, Safiyyah runs dangerous errands and helps the Jews sheltering at the mosque where she lives; for readers aged 9–11.
• 2023: Medusa by Jessie Burton. Medusa tells her own story in this retelling of the Greek myth, exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by the gods; a 208-page book for readers who like myths told from a new point of view.
• 2023: The Light in Everything by Katya Balen. Timid Tom and stormy Zofia have to share a home when his mum and her dad fall in love; a story about blended families for readers aged 9–11.
• 2017: The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon. Subhi, a boy born in a refugee detention centre, meets Jimmie, who carries a notebook she cannot read; the publisher gives an interest age of 12 and over.

Kate Greenaway Medal winner

• 2014: This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. A tiny fish steals a blue hat and hopes he will get away with it; a picture book for ages 3–5, the second of Jon Klassen's three hat books.

Kate Greenaway Medal and Carnegie Medal for Illustration shortlisted books

• 2024: The Midnight Panther by Poonam Mistry. Small, shy Panther sets out one night to find where he belongs in the jungle; a fable illustrated by Poonam Mistry, listed for ages 3–5.
• 2024: The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish by Chloe Savage. Dr Morley and her crew sail to the Arctic to find a creature that everyone talks about but nobody has ever seen; a picture book for ages 3–5 in Chloe Savage's Hidden Wonders series.
• 2023: The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold. Blamed for a girl's accident, Hex runs into the woods and accepts a strange deal from an old woman in a cottage; illustrated by Levi Pinfold, and the publisher suggests it for readers aged 11 and over.
• 2014: The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson. A string of paper dolls escapes a toy dinosaur and an oven-glove crocodile in a story about childhood, memory and imagination, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb; for ages 3–5.
• 2009: Varmints by Helen Ward, illustrated by Marc Craste. A 40-page picture book that opens in a quiet world of buzzing bees, murmuring moles and birdsong. It suits readers who care about the natural world: others arrive and fill the sky with noise, and the spare text follows those who love the place enough to help it recover.
• 1991: Window by Jeannie Baker. A wordless collage picture book: a mother and baby look out at wilderness, and with each page the boy grows older and the view changes; listed for ages 4–8.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal?

The Carnegie Medal for Writing is awarded for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. The Carnegie Medal for Illustration, formerly known as the Kate Greenaway Medal, is awarded for outstanding illustration in a book for children and young people.

Which book won the Carnegie Medal in 2025?

Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald won the Carnegie Medal for Writing in 2025. October, October by Katya Balen won in 2022.

Who chooses the winners?

Both medals are judged by children’s librarians. Young people who read the shortlists through the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme vote separately for the Shadowers’ Choice Awards.

How were these books checked?

Every win and shortlisting on this page was checked against the official Carnegies winners lists and shortlist archives, and against Wikipedia’s lists of medal honorees for older shortlists.

Selected by Fox & Fable from books in stock. Last updated 30 September 2026.