The winner of the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Awards were announced at the Bologna Book Fair on 31 March.
The winner of the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Awards were announced at the Bologna Book Fair on 31 March.
This year the author award went to Swiss writer Jurg Schubiger and the award for illustration to Italian illustrator Robert Innocenti.
The prizes, awarded every two years, recognise a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made ‘a lasting contribution to children's literature,' and are judged by an international jury of children's literature specialists.
Australian author Jackie French and illustrator Shaun Tan were each nominated for the 2008 awards by the International Board on Books for Young People, and New Zealand author Margaret Mahy was awarded the author prize in 2006.
The 2008 awards will be presented to the winners in Copenhagen on 7 September.
This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker