The Yoto Carnegies shortlist is announced!
The Yoto Carnegies, the UK’s longest running book awards for children and young people, today announced their longlists for 2025. They were first established in 1936 in memory of the Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919).
“The Carnegies celebrate outstanding reading experiences in books for children and young people. They are unique in being judged by librarians, with the Shadowers’ Choice Medals voted for by thousands of reading groups in schools and libraries in the UK and around the world, who shadow the judging process and choose their own winners.”
“16 books have been shortlisted in total, with eight in each category for the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Carnegie Medal for Illustration; whittled down from 35 longlisted titles by the judging panel, which includes 14 children’s and youth librarians from CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group. The awards aim to spark a lifelong passion for reading by connecting more children with books that will change lives.”
The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlist is (alphabetical by author surname):
- Treacle Town by Brian Conaghan (Andersen Press)
- The Things We Leave Behind by Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster UK)
- The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Otter-Barry Books)
- King of Nothing by Nathanael Lessore (Bonnier Books UK)
- Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain (Walker Books)
- Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald (Faber & Faber)
- All That It Ever Meant by Blessing Musariri (Zephyr, Head of Zeus)
- Play by Luke Palmer (Firefly Press)
The Contenders…
- The only debut on the Medal for Writing shortlist is Glasgow Boys by former NHS worker Margaret McDonald. “An ‘outstanding,’ ‘honest’ story exploring mental health, trauma and inequality through the precarious friendship between two boys growing up in foster care. The judges highlighted the ’empathy,’ ‘tenderness’ and ‘hope’ in a story examining identity ‘in all its complexity.”
- Scottish author Brian Conaghan secured his second shortlisting for the Medal for Writing with Treacle Town. “This ‘highly authentic and realistic’ story explores poverty and lack of opportunity as a teenage boy embraces slam poetry to escape gang violence and secure a hopeful future, with dialect conveying ‘a strong sense of place to help immerse the reader.”
- “Secondary school teacher Luke Palmer has been shortlisted for his ‘real, authentic and raw’ young adult novel Play, a story of disaffected youth, friendship and peer pressure as four boys navigate society’s expectations of what it means to be a man.”
- “Masculinity is also explored in South Londoner Nathanael Lessore’s King of Nothing, a ‘fresh and innovative’ story about a self-proclaimed bad boy whose unlikely new friendship makes him question his priorities, told with ‘warmth, humour and authenticity,’ which ‘challenges readers to look inwards at their own behaviour.”
- “Multi-award-winning poet and writer Matt Goodfellow is shortlisted for The Final Year, a ‘lyrical and poetic’ verse novel about change and adaptation where a young boy’s love of reading and writing is encouraged by a teacher as a way to process anger and find his voice. The judges highlighted ‘powerful’ and empathetic characterisation in a story that was both ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘joyful.’”.
- Also ensuring that underrepresented voices are heard, Zimbabwean writer Blessing Musariri is shortlisted for the Medal for Writing for All That It Ever Meant, exploring cultural identity and loss as a neurodivergent girl moves between continents with her family after the death of her mother. This ‘powerful’ and ‘compelling’ coming-of-age story ‘has so many beautiful and poignant ways of describing grief,’ commented the judges.
- “Belfast writer Kelly McCaughrain has been shortlisted for Little Bang, a ‘warm and wise’ Northern Irish romance exploring teen pregnancy and a young woman’s right to choose her own future, which was praised by the judges for exploring all sides of an emotive topic and ‘sensitively opening up perspectives around the choices people make.”
- “Clare Furniss is shortlisted for her ‘exceptionally well crafted’ dystopian novel The Things We Leave Behind set in a near-future London at the epicentre of the refugee crisis and following a teenager and her sister on a treacherous journey to safety. The judges highlighted its sense of ‘hope’ for the future and ‘the possibility of new beginnings’ – a feature shared by all the books shortlisted for the Medal for Writing.”
The Carnegies
The winners will be announced on Thursday 19th June at a live-streamed ceremony. We can’t wait to hear the results and acquire some of these new titles.
