2002

Aidan Chambers (U.K.) was the winner of the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Quentin Blake (U.K.) the winner of the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration.

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are the highest international recognition given to creators of children's books. They are presented every two years by IBBY to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to children's literature. Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is the patron of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards. The Awards are supported by the Nissan Motor Company. The Awards were presented to the winners at the opening ceremony of IBBY's 50th Anniversary Jubilee Congress in Basel, Switzerland, 29 September 2002.

In choosing Aidan Chambers as the author winner, the jury paid tribute to his literary skill, his handling of varied narrative techniques and his careful choice of topics within the young adult world. His writing shows a clear understanding of the adolescent mind. There is suspense in each gripping storyline with thoroughly real characters. Aidan Chambers' books are for teenage readers who enjoy being led into realms of a deeper appreciation of life.

Vivacious and creative, Quentin Blake is a great artist who has clearly made a lasting contribution both to children's literature and to the world of children. This is evident from his many previous awards and his election as the United Kingdom's first Children's Laureate. His originality and sense of humour, together with his skill with line, colours and movement have made Quentin Blake a beloved illustrator with wide international impact.

Aidan Chambers was selected from among 28 authors nominated for the award. The other finalists (in alphabetical order) were Bart Moeyaert (Belgium) and Bjarne Reuter (Denmark).

Quentin Blake was selected from among 27 illustrators nominated for the award. The other finalists were (in alphabetical order) Rotraut Susanne Berner (Germany), Daihachi Ohta (Japan) and Grégoire Solotareff (France).

The other author candidates were Zvonimir Balog (Croatia), Kirsten Boie (Germany), Susan Cooper (USA), Luísa Dacosta (Portugal), Werner J. Egli (Switzerland), Juan Farias (Spain), Jostein Gaarder (Norway), Gudrun Helgadóttir (Iceland), Hannele Huovi (Finland), Momoko Ishii (Japan), Muzaffer Izgü (Turkey), Manos Kondoleon (Greece), Dennis Lee (Canada), Joke van Leeuwen (Netherlands), Margaret Mahy (New Zealand), Svetlana Makarovic (Slovenia), Jean Paul Nozière (France), Ruth Rocha (Brazil), Milan Rúfus (Slovak Republic), Ulf Stark (Sweden), Rene O. Villanueva (Philippines), Martin Waddell (Ireland), Renate Welsh (Austria), Qin Wenjun (China) and Ema Wolf (Argentina).

The other illustrator candidates were Nicholas Andrikopoulos (Greece), Lilian Brøgger (Denmark), Nelson Cruz (Brazil), Wu Daisheng (China), Niki Daly (South Africa), Boris Diodorov (Russia), Akin Düzakin (Norway), Harrie Geelen (Netherlands), Fibben Hald (Sweden), Istvan (Argentina), Nasrin Khosravi (Iran), Jana Kiselová-Siteková (Slovak Republic), Mika Launis (Finland), Michèle Lemieux (Canada), David Macaulay (USA), Francisco Meléndez (Spain), António Modesto (Portugal), Ümit Ögmel (Turkey), Béatrice Poncelet (Switzerland), Vjekoslav Vojo Radoicic (Croatia), Marija Lucija Stupica (Slovenia), Marie Wabbes (Belgium) and Linda Wolfsgruber (Austria).

Jury President Jay Heale (South Africa) chaired the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury during its meetings at the IBBY Secretariat in Basel, 26-27 March 2002. For the first time in its history the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury was divided into two sections, one to judge illustration, another to judge writing. The section for writing consisted of the children's literature specialists Gunilla Borén (Sweden), Toin Duijx (Netherlands), Hildegard Gärtner (Austria), Marianne Martens (USA) and Laura Sandroni (Brazil). The section for illustration comprised the following children's literature specialists: Silvia Castrillón (Colombia), Virginia Davis (Canada), Claude Hubert-Ganiayre (France), Zohreh Ghaeni (Iran) and Julia Prosalkova (Russia). The President of IBBY Tayo Shima (Japan) and IBBY Executive Director Leena Maissen (Switzerland) participated in both meetings ex officio.