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2016 Carnegie Medal Winner Announced

Sarah Crossan Wins the Carnegie Medal 2016

The Carnegie Medal is considered to be the most coveted children’s book prize in the UK, and as such it’s a big deal for authors and publishers. The illustrious award has been given yearly since 1936 and is judged solely by the nation’s librarians, who are considered to be a bit of an authority on the subject of good books!

The 2016 Carnegie Medal Winner is announced today as author, Sarah Crossan for her novel in free verse One. It’s the first time a verse novel has ever won the coveted prize, making this a pretty big deal! Crossan was previously shortlisted in both 2013 and 2015 for the award, but One, the story of conjoined twins Grace and Tippi is the book to bring her Carnegie Glory.

One is the story of conjoined twins Grace and Tippi, and the novel is written in free verse. As the twins grow the develop different habits and different opinions and discover how challenging it is to be two souls in one body.

In addition to this Carnegie award, the novel has also won Irish Children’s Book of the Year, and the YA Book prize. For this award she will receive the glory of collecting the most coveted prize in the UK, £500 worth of books to donate to her local library and the £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.

Crossan says the win is a win for poetry, an often underutilised art form in literature, and that when it is used it is only ever used in a serious manner. In One Crossan brings the story to life in verse, making it an unusual but engaging story.

Understandably, One is tipped to be one of the best selling children’s books this year, and that’s great news given Crossan’s beautiful look at a difficult subject matter.



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