News Release 9 / 2006-2008

back

The Hans Christian Andersen Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announces that Jürg Schubiger (Switzerland) is the winner of the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Roberto Innocenti (Italy) is the winner of the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration.

The Awards will be presented to the winners at the opening ceremony of IBBY’s Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday, 7 September 2008.

In awarding the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Writing to Jürg Schubiger, the jury has recognized a very powerful narrator who fascinates the reader with playful reflection upon the creative process. His short philosophical stories are told through believable metaphors from a child's perspective and charm the reader. Humanity and universality are the most important characteristics of his works

The 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration recognizes Roberto Innocenti as a masterful illustrator who powerfully depicts various genres. His historical stories of war, specifically the holocaust, invite young people to speculate about the serious problems of the world. He also portrays classic children's literature from a completely different point of view. His narrative power of the images is overwhelming.

Schubiger was selected from 30 authors nominated for the award. The other finalists (in alphabetical order) were Bartolomeu Campos de Queirós (Brazil), Brian Doyle (Canada), Guus Kuijer (Netherlands) and David Almond (UK). Innocenti was selected from 30 illustrators nominated. The other finalists (in alphabetical order) were Isol Misenta (Argentina), Svjetlan Junakóvic (Croatia), Adolf Born (Czech Republic) and David Wiesner (USA).

The other author candidates were (by country): Beatriz María Ana Ferro (Argentina), Jackie French (Australia), Lene Mayer-Skumanz (Austria), Anne Provoost (Belgium), Qin Wenjun (China), Kika Pulcheriou (Cyprus), Iva Procházková (Czech Republic), Bjarne Reuter (Denmark), Fatima El Maadoul (Egypt), Irmelin Sandman Lilius (Finland), Marie Desplechin (France), Peter Härtling (Germany), Voula Mastori (Greece), Gudrun Helgadottir (Iceland), Kate Thompson (Ireland), Mino Milani (Italy), Shuntaro Tanikawa (Japan), Iuliu Ratiu (Romania), Dragana Litricin-Dunic (Serbia), Ján Navrátil (Slovakia), Beverley Naidoo (South Africa), María Asun Landa (Spain), Barbro Lindgren (Sweden), Ayla Çinaroglu (Turkey) and Lloyd Alexander (USA).

The other illustrator candidates were (by country): Shaun Tan (Australia), Linda Wolfsgruber (Austria), Kitty Crowther (Belgium), Rui de Oliveira (Brazil), Pierre Pratt (Canada), Lilian Brøgger (Denmark), Virpi Talvitie (Finland), Claude Ponti (France), Jutta Bauer (Germany), Vassilis Papatsarouchas (Greece), Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick (Ireland), Akiko Hayashi (Japan), Kestutis Kasparavicius (Lithuania), Mauricio Gómez Morín (Mexico), The Tjong-Khing (Netherlands), Stan Done (Romania), Nickolay Popov (Russia), Olga Bajusová (Slovakia), Lila Prap (Slovenia), Piet Grobler (South Africa), Ulises Wensell (Spain), Eva Eriksson (Sweden), Hannes Binder (Switzerland), Nazan Erkmen (Turkey) and Jan Pienkowski (UK).

Jury President Zohreh Ghaeni (Iran) chaired the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury during its meetings in Basel, Switzerland, 26-27 March 2008. The Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury consisted of the children’s literature specialists Nataliya Avgustinovich (Russia), Isabelle Nières Chevrel (France), María Jesús Gil Iglesias (Spain), Nadia El Kholy (Egypt), Annemie Leysen (Belgium), Bill Nagelkerke (New Zealand), Alicia Susana Salvi (Argentina), Francine Sarrasin (Canada), Helene Schär (Switzerland), and Junko Yokota (USA). The Vice President of IBBY Elda Nogueira (Brazil) and IBBY Director Liz Page (Switzerland) participated in the meeting ex officio.

31 March 2008 / Zohreh Ghaeni