2020 HCAA Winners

4 May 2020

Junko Yokota, Chair of the Jury for the Hans Christian Andersen Award of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announces the winners of the 2020 IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award. IBBY is very grateful to Nami Island Inc. in the Republic of Korea for their sponsorship of this prestigious award.

The 2020 winners are: Jacqueline Woodson of the U.S.A. for Writing and Albertine of Switzerland for Illustration

The criteria used to assess the nominations included the aesthetic and literary quality as well as the freshness and innovation of each nominee’s work; the ability to see the child’s point of view and to stretch their curiosity; and the continuing relevance of the work to children and young people. The Award is based on the entire body of work. IBBY National sections submitted 34 author nominees and 36 illustrator nominees. From this pool of incredibly highly qualified candidates, the jury deliberated each nominee, carefully and thoroughly assessing each candidate while maintaining discussions related to the criteria.

2020 Author Winner Jacqueline Woodson
The dossier submitted for her nomination notes that all Jacqueline Woodson’s books “feature lyrical language, powerful characters, and an abiding sense of hope. The dialogues are pitchperfect, the stories are raw and fresh, and the endings satiate the reader.”

2020 Illustrator Winner Albertine
Albertine creates books with multiple levels of interpretation as an illustrator, but also as an author. Her dossier states that she is “known for work that expresses spontaneity combined with attention to detail, infinite precision as well as a sense of humor.”

The 2020 Shortlist comprises:

Authors:
María Cristina Ramos from Argentina
Bart Moeyaert from Belgium
Marie-Aude Murail from France
Farhad Hassanzadeh from Iran
Peter Svetina from Slovenia

Illustrators:
Isabelle Arsenault from Canada
Seizo Tashima from Japan
Sylvia Weve from the Netherlands
Iwona Chmielewska from Poland
Elena Odriozola from Spain

The 2020 Jurors were:
Mariella Bertelli from Canada
Denis Beznosov from Russia
Tina Bilban from Slovenia
Yasuko Doi from Japan
Nadia El Kholy from Egypt
Viviane Ezratty from France
Eva Kaliskami from Greece
Robin Morrow from Australia
Cecilia Ana Repetti from Argentina
Ulla Rhedin from Sweden

Profiles of all the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award nominees can be found in the Bookbird special Andersen issue #57/4. This media release can be downloaded as a pdf here.