Join the celebrations for the Carnegies in 2026
This year’s CILIP Carnegies returned to the home of Matilda the Musical for a glittering ceremony, sprinkled with some of the magic from the hit West End show.
JOINING this year’s host Joseph Coelho on stage was Matilda’s inspirational librarian Mrs Phelps. Prizes were handed out by students from some of this year’s Shadowing groups, and hundreds of other children from groups across the country descended on the Cambridge Theatre to enjoy the ceremony.
Thousands more joined a livestream to find out who would win the prestigious Carnegies Medals for Writing and Illustration, and their corresponding Shadowers’ Choice awards – chosen by students taking part in the popular shadowing scheme. The event is the highlight of the Carnegies’ year, bringing together shortlisted authors and illustrators with judges and young readers for the big reveal.
Medal Winners
Picking up this year’s Carnegies Medal for Writing with Glasgow Boys, was debut novelist Margaret McDonald. Her win also secured her a place in the history books as the youngest ever Medal winner for writing. You can read more about her win and the inspiration behind it in this issue of Pen&inc. Speaking after the win Margaret said: “I’m utterly delighted to be the recipient of this year’s Carnegie Medal for Writing. With Glasgow Boys, it was my intention to bring into the light things that are often overlooked as a working class, disabled and first-generation university student, but mainly the difficulties of making your way through a world that is essentially not built for you. We don’t often speak of these invisible barriers but navigate them regardless. It was something that was deeply
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important for me to showcase the strength, the community, the humour and the love of the people within Glasgow Boys.”
Another of this issue’s interviewees and our cover star Olivia Lomenech Gill won the Carnegies Medal for Illustration with Clever Crow. She said: “I have always had an immense respect for librarians and the vital work they do, so I cannot think of a greater honour than being selected for this award, and I am very grateful to the judges for choosing me as this year’s winner. Working on Clever Crow was a great opportunity to learn more about these very clever and sociable birds, and I hope that the book might encourage readers to look at crows from a different viewpoint than the rather negative stereotype as portrayed in fairy tales, horror movies, and Hitchcock!”
Shadowers’ Choice winners Nathanael Lessore’s King of Nothing was chosen by young readers as their favourite novel for this year’s Shadower’s Choice Award for writing. Nathanael is another winner featured in this issue of Pen&inc. And while Theo Parish, winner of the Shadowers’ Choice Award for illustration didn’t make it into this edition of Pen&inc., they were featured in a previous issue discussing their winning book Home Body. Ros Harding, Chair of judges for the 2024 Carnegies praised this year’s medal winners, saying: “Glasgow Boys is an immersive and visceral read that completely draws the reader into the present and past lives of Finlay and Banjo. It is a book that will stay in the minds of the reader long after finishing it. Clever Crow is full of stunning, innovative and detailed illustrations
Autumn-Winter 2025
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