IBBY Announces the Winners of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Award

The Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announces that María Teresa Andruetto from Argentina is the winner of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Peter Sís from the Czech Republic is the winner of the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award.

The Andersen medals and diplomas will be presented to the winners at the international IBBY congress in London, United Kingdom on Saturday, 25 August 2012. 

The Hans Christian Andersen Award, considered the most prestigious in international children’s literature, is given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People to a living author and illustrator whose complete works are judged to have made lasting contributions to children's literature.

In awarding the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for writing to María Teresa Andruetto the Jury recognises her mastery in writing important and original works that are strongly focussed on aesthetics.  She creates sensitive books, which are deep and poetic with a clear literary base.  Her books relate to a great variety of topics, such as migration, inner worlds, injustice, love, poverty, violence or political affairs.

Andruetto was selected from 27 authors nominated for the Award. The four finalists are Paul Fleischman (USA), Bart Moeyaert (Belgium), Jean-Claude Mourlevat (France) and Bianca Pitzorno (Italy).

In awarding the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration to Peter Sís the Jury recognizes his extraordinary originality and deep creative power to relate highly complex stories that can be interpreted on many different levels.  The jury particularly appreciates his use of different design and artistic techniques, as well as his innovative approach using a subtle balance to depict well-documented and historical events and fantastic elements.

Sís was selected from 30 illustrators nominated for the Award. The four finalists are Mohammad Ali Baniasadi(Iran), John Burningham (UK), Roger Mello (Brazil) and Javier Zabala (Spain)

The other author candidates were Christobel Mattingley (Australia), Monika Pelz (Austria), Bartolomeu Campos de Queirós (Brazil), Tim Wynne-Jones (Canada), Elli Peonidou (Cyprus), Lene Kaaberbøl (Denmark), Sinikka Nopola/Tiina Nopola (Finland), Paul Maar (Germany), Christos Boulotis (Greece), Eoin Colfer (Ireland), Masamoto Nasu (Japan), Hwang Sun-mi (Republic of Korea), Tonke Dragt (Netherlands), Bjørn Sortland (Norway), Silvia Kerim (Romania), Ljubivoje Ršumovic (Serbia), Tone Pavcek (Slovenia), Agustín Fernández Paz (Spain), Lennart Hellsing (Sweden), Franz Hohler (Switzerland), Sevim Ak (Turkey), and Philip Pullman (UK).

The other illustrator candidates were Pablo Bernasconi (Argentina), Bob Graham (Australia), Renate Habinger (Austria), Louis Joos (Belgium), Stéphane Jorisch (Canada), Charlotte Pardi (Denmark), Virpi Talvitie (Finland), Henri Galeron (France), Rotraut Susanne Berner (Germany), Efie Lada (Greece), Francesco Tullio-Altan (Italy), Satoshi Kako (Japan), Hong Seong-Chan (Republic of Korea), Anita Paegle (Latvia), Annemarie van Haeringen (Netherlands), Øyvind Torseter (Norway), Valeria Moldovan (Romania), Gennadij Spirin (Russia), Dobrosav Živkovic (Serbia), Alenka Sottler (Slovenia), Anna-Clara Tidholm (Sweden), Kathrin Schärer (Switzerland), Feridun Oral (Turkey), Chris Raschka (USA) and Arnal Ballester (Venezuela).

The ten members of the 2012 Jury, led by Jury President María Jesús Gil from Spain, met in Basel, Switzerland on 10 and 11 March 2012.  The Jury of children's literature experts comprised Anastasia Arkhipova (Russia), Françoise Ballenger (France), Ernest Bond (USA), Sabine Fuchs (Austria), Ayfer Gürdal Ünal (Turkey), Jan Hansson (Sweden), Eva Kaliskami (Greece), Nora Lía Sormani (Argentina), Sahar Tarhandeh (Iran) and Regina Zilberman (Brazil). Elda Nogueira from Brazil representing IBBY and Liz Page as Jury Secretary attended the meeting ex officio.