2004

The Andersen Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announces that Martin Waddell(Ireland) is the winner of the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Max Velthuijs(The Netherlands) is the winner of the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration.

The awards were presented to the winners at the opening ceremony of IBBY’s Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.

In choosing Martin Waddell as the winner of the author award, the jury has paid tribute to the remarkable perception, compassion and warmth of this prolific writer. Waddell writes for young people of all ages with simplicity, empathy and respect: he recognizes and articulates the complexities of ordinary lives and illustrates the need of those lives to be protected and understood.

Max Velthuijs is a brilliant storyteller and artist whose lifetime dedication to children’s literature has been recognized by the jury. Velthuijs has proven many times over that he understands children: their doubts, fears and exhilarations. His books are little jewels of image and text that come together to comfort children and reassure them as they venture out into the world around them. Sadly, Max Velthuijs passed away on 25 January 2005.

Martin Waddell was selected from 26 authors nominated for the award. The other finalists (in alphabetical order) were Barbro Lindgren (Sweden), Bjarne Reuter (Denmark), Joel Rufino dos Santos (Brazil) and Jürg Schubiger (Switzerland).

Max Velthuijs was selected from 27 illustrators nominated for the award. The other finalists were (in alphabetical order), Rotraut Susanne Berner (Germany), Roberto Innocenti (Italy), Javier Serrano (Spain) and Grégoire Solotareff (France).

The other author candidates were Ema Wolf (Argentina), Martin Auer (Austria), Bart Moeyaert (Belgium), Gilles Tibo (Canada), Cao Wenxuan (China), Visnja Stahuljak (Croatia), Jean-Paul Nozière (France), Kirsten Boie (Germany), Alki Zei (Greece), Angela Nanetti (Italy), Satoru Sato (Japan), Paul Biegel (Netherlands), Margaret Mahy (New Zealand), Jo Ewo (Norway), Luisa Ducla Soares (Portugal), Eduard Uspensky (Russia), Jan Uliciansky (Slovakia), Lesley Beake (South Africa), Juan Farias (Spain),Geraldine McCaughrean (United Kingdom) and Lois Lowry (U.S.A.).

The other illustrator candidates were Istvan Schritter (Argentina), Linda Wolfsgruber (Austria), Kitty Crowther (Belgium), Angela Lago (Brazil), Marie-Louise Gay (Canada), Wang Xiaoming (China), Lilian Brøgger (Denmark), Helmi Abdel-Hamid El-Touni (Egypt), Mauri Kunnas (Finland), Fotini Stephanidi (Greece), Krisztina Rényi (Hungary), Daihachi Ohta (Japan), Svein Nyhus (Norway), Józef Wilkon (Poland), Danuta Wojciechowska (Portugal), Alexander Koshkin (Russia), Peter Cisárik (Slovakia), Niki Daly (South Africa), Eva Eriksson (Sweden), Armin Greder (Switzerland), Tony Ross (United Kingdom), and Vera B. Williams (U.S.A.).

Jury President Jeff Garrett (U.S.A.) chaired the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury during its meetings at the IBBY Secretariat in Basel, 6 – 7 April 2004. 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), María Candelaria Posada (Colombia), Angela Lebedeva (Russia), Marianne Martens (U.S.A.) and Laura Sandroni (Brazil). The section for illustration was comprised of the following children’s literature specialists: Lona Gericke (South Africa), Zohreh Ghaeni (Iran), Grazia Gotti (Italy), María Cecilia Silva-Diaz (Spain) and Truusje Vrooland-Löb (Netherland). The President of IBBY Peter Schneck (Austria) and IBBY Executive Director Kimete Basha (Belgium) participated in both meetings ex officio.