Guardian Prize

The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by ''The Guardian'' newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.

Recent winners

Piers Torday won the 2014 Guardian Prize, announced 13 November, for ''The Dark Wild'' from Quercus Publishing. It is the second book of a trilogy inaugurated by ''The Last Wild'', whose conclusion ''The Wild Beyond'' is forthcoming April 2015.

The judges were ''Guardian'' children's book editor Julia Eccleshare and three British children's writers (as always): 2012 prize winner Frank Cottrell Boyce, Gillian Cross, and Katherine Rundell.

The longlist of eight was announced late in June, the shortlist of four early in October.

* Kate DiCamillo, '' Flora & Ulysses'', illus. K. G. Campbell (Walker Books), Age 9+
* Natasha Farrant, ''Flora in Love'' (Faber & Faber), Age 12+
* Candy Gourlay, ''Shine'' (David Fickling Books), Age 12+
* E. Lockhart, ''We Were Liars'', ( Hot Key Books; U.S., Delacorte Press), Age 12+
* S. F. Said, ''Phoenix'', illus. Dave McKean (David Fickling Books), Age 10+
* Marcus Sedgwick, ''She Is Not Invisible'' (Orion Books), Age 12+
* Francesca Simon, ''The Lost Gods'' (Faber/ Profile), Age 9+
* Piers Torday, ''The Dark Wild'' (Quercus), Age 11+

DiCamillo and ''Flora & Ulysses'' won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association as the most distinguished US children's book published during 2013.

Torday was inspired to write books by the success of his father, Paul Torday (1946–2013), whose first book was published in 2006 when he was 59 years old.

;Latest rendition
Rebecca Stead of New York City won the 2013 Guardian Prize, covering books published August 2012 to July 2013, for ''Liar & Spy'', which was published by Andersen Press in the UK and Wendy Lamb Books in the US. Stead became the first winning writer from outside the British Commonwealth in the second year that all new children's books published in Britain were eligible.

History

The prize was established in 1965 as the "only children's book award made to writers by their fellow authors"(2005 shortlist) and inaugurated by the 1967 award to Leon Garfield for ''Devil in the Fog'' ( Constable & Co., 1966). Through the 2000 prize, announced 28 March, it recognised one book published in the UK during the preceding calendar year.

Between the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 cycles, the prize schedule was rearranged to culminate in October during Booktrust Children's Book Week. " ction for children aged seven and above, published in the UK between January 2000 and September 2001" (21 months) was eligible for the 2001 prize. Publishers were required to submit no more than ten entries by April 30.

At the same time, a summer program was inaugurated, using the newspaper's educational website and featuring a longlist announced in July. The program initially comprised merely an opportunity to vote for longlist favourites, comments by the judges to guide summer reading, and advice on "how to build a classic library of children's books".(2001 longlist) A version of the ongoing Young Critics contest was inaugurated in 2002 and the program has expanded since then to include online discussion and author interviews and appearances. Meanwhile, announcement of the longlist has advanced to late May or early June and announcement of the winner has retreated to November.

Conditions

The shortlist of no more than four books and the winner were selected by three children's fiction writers, almost always including the latest winner. ''The Guardian'' described the prize as the only children's book award winner selected by peers. The newspaper's children's book editor Julia Eccleshare participated (from 2000-2016) in selection of the longlist and thereafter chaired the panel of final judges.

In years to 2016 there was a longlist of eight books announced in May or June, a shortlist of no more than four announced in September, and a single winner. The longlist was the foundation for a summer program of reading, reviewing, and discussion.

The U.K. publishers of eligible books entered them for the prize with a fee, although the chair may call for submission. The publication year is August to July of the current year, but May, June, and July books must be submitted in advance. Books originally published in another language were eligible in English translation for five years.

Routinely, eligible books were entered for the prize by their UK publishers, as many as ten books each (2000) although chair Eccleshare also called for particular submissions.

Winners

Through 2016 there were 52 prizes awarded in 49 years covering 1966 to mid-2015 publications. There were co-winners in 1992 and 1996.

Winners of multiple awards

Six books have won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Carnegie Medal (inaugurated 1936), which annually recognizes an outstanding book for children or young adults.
(Dates are years of U.K. publication, which were Carnegie award dates before 2006.)
* Alan Garner, ''The Owl Service'' (1967)
* Richard Adams, ''Watership Down'' (1972)
* Geraldine McCaughrean, ''A Pack of Lies'' (1988)
* Anne Fine, ''Goggle-Eyes'' (1989)
* Philip Pullman, ''His Dark Materials 1: Northern Lights'' (1995)
* Melvin Burgess, ''Junk'' (1996)
''Northern Lights'' was named "Carnegie of Carnegies" for the 70-year celebration of that award in 2007.

2003. ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' by Mark Haddon (David Fickling, 2002) won the 2003 Whitbread Awards as the year's best novel (not children's book) and the "Book of the Year" across all five categories. ''The Guardian'' children's book editor Eccleshare wrote, "Published on both an adult and a children's list, it is one of the few titles for which the ubiquitous claim of "crossover" is not a gimmick. It genuinely has equal, though different, appeal to all readers – 15-year-old Christopher Boone's narrative voice is at once childlike in its observations, and adult in its profundity."(2003 winner)

2001. ''The Seeing Stone'' by Kevin Crossley-Holland won the Tir na n-Og Award, best English-language book for young people with "authentic Welsh background".

Summer programme

The Young Critics competition was inaugurated in 2002 and is still underway. The newspaper solicited 200-word reviews of books on the longlist from children 16 and younger, with the prize being "a day editing and printing up their reviews".(retrospective by CA, 23 Sep 2002)

Ten years later there are dual competitions for children 17 and younger, one for individuals and one for teams of at least four schoolmates. There are cash prizes and free sets of the longlist books to the winners. Up to 30 students from the winning school also get a day at one ''Guardian'' site.(2012 Young Critics)
The Young Critics contests are judged by Eccleshare, who also helps select the longlist, and another ''Guardian'' edito
"''The Guardian'' Young Critics Competition 2012"

Beside the competition there is a summer book club that features one longlist book each week, with author interviews and discussion.

Longlists and shortlists

Since the award cycle was rescheduled to conclude late in the year, between 2000 and 2001, a "longlist" of seven to ten books has been announced near mid-year, recently in May. During that same period, a shortlist of four to six books has been announced a few months later.

Bold and hash (#) mark the winner, plus (+) marks the rest of the shortlist, and dash (–) marks the rest of the longlist.

2015 (8)

: # David Almond, ''A Song for Ella Grey'' (Hodder)
: + Frances Hardinge, ''The Lie Tree'' (Macmillan)
: + Sally Nicholls, ''An Island of our Own'' (Scholastic)
: + Kate Saunders, ''Five Children on the Western Front'' (Faber) – sequel to the 1902 classic ''Five Children and It''
: - Cece Bell, ''El Deafo'' (Amulet Books)
: - Sarah Crossan, ''Apple and Rain'' (Bloomsbury)
: - Jennifer Niven, ''All the Bright Places'' (Penguin)
: - Jon Walter, ''My Name's Not Friday'' (David Fickling)

2014 (8)Flood, Alison (13 November 2014)
"Piers Torday wins Guardian children’s fiction prize for eco-adventure"
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  See also footer directory, "related content".
: # Piers Torday, ''The Dark Wild'' (Quercus), Age 11+
: + Kate DiCamillo, '' Flora & Ulysses'', illus. K. G. Campbell (Walker; U.S., Candlewick) 9+
: + E. Lockhart, ''We Were Liars'', (Hot Key; U.S., Delacorte) 12+
: + S. F. Said, ''Phoenix'', illus. Dave McKean (David Fickling) 10+
: – Natasha Farrant, ''Flora in Love'' (Faber) 12+
: – Candy Gourlay, ''Shine'' (David Fickling) 12+
: – Marcus Sedgwick, ''She Is Not Invisible'' (Orion) 12+
: – Francesca Simon, ''The Lost Gods'' (Faber/Profile) 9+

DiCamillo and ''Flora & Ulysses'' won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association as the most distinguished U.S. children's book published during 2013.

The longlist and shortlist were announced 28 June and 4 October, both about a month later than usual.

2013 (8)Bury, Liz (23 October 2013)
"Guardian children's fiction prize goes to Rebecca Stead"
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  See also the footer directory "more on this story".
: # Rebecca Stead, ''Liar & Spy'' (Andersen), Age 10+
: + David Almond, '' The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas'', illus. Oliver Jeffers (Walker), Age 9+
: + John Green, ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (Penguin), Age 12+
: + Katherine Rundell, ''Rooftoppers'' (Faber), Age 10+
: – Gillian Cross, ''After Tomorrow'' (Oxford), Age 10+
: – Sally Gardner, ''Maggot Moon'' (Hot Key Books), Age 12+
: – William Sutcliffe, ''The Wall'' (Bloomsbury), Age 12+
: – Lydia Syson, ''A World Between Us'' (Hot Key Books), Age 14+

Stead was the first American winner of the Prize, which was opened to writers from outside the British Commonwealth in 2012.

Gardner and ''Maggot Moon'' won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognizing the best children's book published in Britain during the twelve months to August 2012.

2012 (8)
: # Frank Cottrell Boyce, ''The Unforgotten Coat'', photographs by Carl Hunter and Clare Heney (Walker) 9+
: + Roddy Doyle, ''A Greyhound of a Girl'' (Scholastic) 12+
: + Jack Gantos, '' Dead End in Norvelt'' (Corgi) 12+
: + Eva Ibbotson, ''The Abominables'' (Scholastic) 8+
: – Aidan Chambers, ''Dying to Know You'' (Bodley Head) 14+
: – Russell Hoban, ''Soonchild'', illus. Alexis Deacon (Walker) 14+
: – Ally Kennen, ''Bullet Boys'' (Scholastic) 14+
: – Dave Shelton, ''A Boy and a Bear in a Boat'' (David Fickling) 9+

This was Eva Ibbotson's second year on the shortlist after her death October 2010.

Gantos and '' Dead End in Norvelt'' won the Newbery Medal for calendar year 2011's "most distinguished contribution to American children's literature" (for readers up to age 14)."Jack Gantos, Chris Raschka win Newbery, Caldecott Medals"
. Press release 23 January 2012. American Library Association. Retrieved 2012-06-18.

2011 (8)
: # Andy Mulligan, ''Return to Ribblestrop'' (Simon & Schuster) 10+
: + David Almond, '' My Name is Mina'' (Hodder) 9+
: + Frances Hardinge, ''Twilight Robbery'' (Macmillan) 11+
: + Simon Mason, ''Moon Pie'' (David Fickling) 10+
: – Lissa Evans, ''Small Change for Stuart'' (Doubleday) 8+
: – Saci Lloyd, ''Momentum'' (Hodder) 12+
: – Annabel Pitcher, ''My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece'' (Orion) 10+
: – Andy Stanton, ''Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout'', illus. David Tazzyman (Egmont) 7+

Mulligan made the 2012 Carnegie Medal shortlist with a different work, ''Trash'' (late 2010). Almond, Evans, and Pitcher made that shortlist with their Guardian Prize contenders.

2010 (8)
: # Michelle Paver, '' Ghost Hunter'' (Orion) 10+
: + Morris Gleitzman

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases