Children’s Literature Awards

In the US the tradition of literary awards in children’s literature began with the institution of the Newbery Medal in 1922. The Caldecott Medal followed in 1938, awarding the best picture book of the year¹⁸. The medals placed the emphasis on either

17 Mildred Batchelder (1901-1998) was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the first of three daughters of a rich businessman and a former teacher. She trained to become a librarian and after having worked for several schools as librarian, in 1935 she became the first school library specialist for the American Library Association (ALA). She promoted reading and children’s literature all over the USA, and founded Booklist, a magazine for librarians and experts in children’s literature. After World War II she was also engaged in projects for European reconstruction, but in 1948 she was fired from ALA because of misunderstandings with the authorities after the war. A detailed biography was written by Barbara Bader in The Horn Book Magazine (2011).

18 The Newbery Medal was named after John Newbery, the publisher who launched the Pretty Little Pocket Book in London in 1744, and is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” (from http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal, last access 11/11/2014).

The Caldecott Medal took its name from Randolph Caldecott, a renowned illustrator who published sixteen picture books, and is a prize awarded annually by the American Library Association for American Picture Books for Children “to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children”

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“American literature” or the “American picture book”, and only in the list of Caldecott Medal winners do translated books actually appear as such¹⁹ – presented with the name of the translator after that of the winning illustrator – from mainly Charles Perrault (French) but also Hans Christian Andersen (Danish) and the Brothers Grimm (German).

In the UK the equivalent prizes awarded in the field of children’s literature are the Carnegie and the Greenaway Medals²⁰. The first was established in 1936 and is given annually “to the writer of an outstanding book for children”, the second was first awarded in 1955 “for distinguished illustration in a book for children” ²¹. Browsing through the list of winners for both medals, no explicit reference is made to translated books.

Interestingly, the Caldecott medal is awarded to a picture book, whereas the Greenaway is mainly dedicated to illustrations within a book for children (Allen, 1998:

91). A picture book is a mix of illustration and text, it has been considered the real contribution of children’s literature to the history of genre (Hunt, 1991) with its semiotic and semantic charge. The illustration cannot be disjointed from the text it is associated with; therefore the presence of translated texts in the list of the Caldecott Medal might

(from http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal, last access 11/11/2014). An exhaustive overview of all prizes in children’s literature is given by Ruth Allen (1998).

19 The six books mentioned are: Puss in Boots (Honor Book, 1991) translated from Charles Perrault by Malcolm Arthur; Shadow (Medal Winner, 1983) translated from Blaise Cendrars, and illustrated by Marcia Brown; Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs (Honor Book, 1973) translated from the Brothers Grimm by Randall Jarrell; Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper (Medal Winner, 1955) translated from Charles Perrault, and illustrated by Marcia Brown; The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Honor Book, 1954) translated from Hans Christian Andersen by M.R.James; Puss in Boots (Honor Book, 1953) translated from Charles Perrault, and illustrated by Marcia Brown.

Source: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal (last access 11/11/2014)

20 Both awarded by CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the Carnegie took its name from a Scottish industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). The Greenaway Medal is dedicated to Kate Greenaway (1846-1901), considered one of the finest illustrators and designers of books for children in the UK.

21 http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/ (last access 11/11/2014)

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suggest that translated literature has its own relevance in the field of children’s books, with a mention of the translator²².

Perhaps the most important prize for authors dedicated to writing books for children is the international Hans Andersen Award. Presented every two years since 1956, it celebrates the body of works of an author who has made an outstanding contribution to children’s literature. Ten years later, also an artist’s medal was to be awarded, a subdivision that follows the examples of the medals in the US and the UK.

The selection process for the final list of prospective winners starts from the nominations given by the National Sections of the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY)²³, and the Awards Jury is then able to choose the winners of the year. Each Section can only nominate one author and one illustrator per country, but since the beginning the Jury also had the responsibility of producing an IBBY Honour List called The Hans Christian Andersen Honour List where “good books”²⁴ were recommended. This single list was first split into the two categories of Author and Illustration in 1974, with a third category introduced in 1978: Translation. The reasons behind the choice to focus on translation (and translators) besides authors and illustrators lie in the very objective of IBBY that is encouraging world understanding through children’s literature. Echoing the question posed by Batchelder about the best books a

22 Though in picture books the emphasis is on the visual part, as its name suggests, for the Caldecott jury

“A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised”. Moreover, the book must be in English, but this does not exclude the use of “words or phrases in another language where appropriate in context”, leaving the door open for code mixing between languages.

Source: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottterms/caldecottterms (last access 11/11/2014)

23 The IBBY was founded by Jella Lepman, who in 1952 gathered a large number of people working in the field of children’s literature under the name of International Understanding through Children’s Books.

In 1953 the International Board of Books became a non-profit organization that listed among its founding members the famous German author for children Erich Kästner, the creator of Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren, and the scholar Richard Bamberger.

24 Every two years the Honour Lists are presented in pdf format on IBBY website. See the 2014 edition here: http://www.ibby.org/fileadmin/user_upload/HL_2014.pdf, (last access 11/11/2014)

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country has to offer, also the IBBY back in 1956 sets the standards against which the books were included in the Honour Lists:

Important considerations in selecting the Honour List titles are that the books chosen be representative of the best in children’s literature from each country, and that the books are recommended as suitable for publication throughout the world [...] (International Board on Books for Young People, 1980: 4)²⁵

There are countries though that constantly produce books for children in more than one language, and also this aspect was dealt with by IBBY so that these countries can nominate up to three authors for writing only. Since 1966 the Hans Christian Andersen Award winners have been accompanied by Highly Commended authors and illustrators that were part of the prospective winners’ list but did not make it for the medal. Gianni Rodari was twice a Highly Commended author for Italy in 1966 and in 1968, but before then – in 1962 – his Gip nel televisore²⁶ was included in the Honour List. These preparatory nominations paved the way for what might be considered his most important achievement of his career, his winning of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1970, which would eventually make his name known throughout the world.

It is necessary to wait until 1966 for an award that was to recognise the relevance of translation as worthwhile activity. The Association for Library Services to Children of the American Library Association presented the award “to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States.”²⁷ This is the (Mildred L.) Batchelder Award, dedicated to the woman who wished to promote intercultural exchange among people around the world through books for children. This award is aimed at “good books”, “high quality children’s

25 Full Honour Lists from 1956 to 1980 available online at

http://www.literature.at/viewer.alo?objid=14782&viewmode=fullscreen&rotate=&scale=3.33&page=1 (last access 11/11/2014)

26 Edited by Mursia (Milan) in 1962, the book was illustrated by Giancarlo Cartoni.

27 http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/batchelderaward (last access 14/11/2014)

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books”, “superior children’s books” selected for translation in the US. The criteria to select the award winner follow two directions. The first is the relationship of the translation with the original work in terms of fidelity to substance, flavour, author’s viewpoint, style, and lack of ‘Americanization’²⁸. This last point was touched upon by Mildred Batchelder herself, because in order to foster mutual understanding among cultures, the readers of the receiving cultures should always be able to tell that the book they are reading comes from another country. The second is the quality of the United States book in terms of plot coherence, potential appeal to a young audience, the whole design of the book (including typeface and book jacket, for example), and also the illustrations that in the US book should be the same as in the original edition in its own country. All these factors outline an interest from professionals in the field of children’s literature in the US to overcome the insularity of American people, especially to encourage publishers to give translation its well-deserved place in the publishing market to the benefit of young generations.

These six medals show the presence of children’s literature on a local (UK and US) and international (IBBY) level, and the selection criteria vary according to the culture that awards the prizes. For writing, the UK promotes local authors only, whereas the US recognise the importance of local writers as well as foreign authors through translations. For illustrators, the US appears more open to hybrid texts that include references to the culture of origin where suitable; the IBBY, given its international appeal, seeks to shed light on the best works in translation in the different partner countries in the name of mutual understanding between cultures.

28 Jane Whitehead in two articles for The Horn Book in 1996-97 clarified the Americanization process through an interview with Mary Lee Donovan, senior editor at Candlewick Press. Generally, US publishing houses apply Americanization as “an integral part of their editing process” particularly for what concerns “Titles, setting, character names, and culturally specific allusions [...] spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, and idiom.” (1996: 688)

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