# Carnegie Medal for Illustration

The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which inherited it from the Library Association.
The Medal was first named after the 19th-century English illustrator of children's books Kate Greenaway (1846–1901). It was established in 1955 and inaugurated in 1956 for 1955 publications, but no work that year was considered suitable. The first Medal was awarded in 1957 to Edward Ardizzone for Tim All Alone (Oxford, 1956), which he also wrote. That first Medal was dated 1956. Since 2007 the Medal has been dated by its presentation during the year following publication. This medal is a companion to the Carnegie Medal for Writing which recognises an outstanding work of writing for children and young adults.
Nominated books must be first published in the U.K. during the preceding school year (September to August), with English-language text if any.
The award by CILIP is a gold Medal and £500 worth of books donated to the illustrator's chosen library. Since 2000 there is also a £5000 cash prize from a bequest by the children's book collector Colin Mears.

## Rules

Library and information professionals in CILIP nominate books in September and October, after the close of the publication year. A panel of 12 children's librarians in CILIP's youth interest group judges books for both the Writing and Illustration awards. The shortlist is announced in March and the winner in June.
Candidates must be published in the U.K. during the preceding year (September to August). They must be published for young people, and published in the U.K. originally or within three months in case of co-publication. English must be the language of any text, or one of dual languages. "All categories of illustrated books for children and young people are eligible."
CILIP specifies numerous points of artistic style, format, and visual experience, and also "synergy of illustration and text" that should be considered. Furthermore, "The whole work should provide pleasure from a stimulating and satisfying visual experience which leaves a lasting impression. Illustrated work needs to be considered primarily in terms of its graphic elements, and where text exists particular attention should be paid to the synergy between the two."

## Winners

Through 2024 there have been 68 Medals awarded in 69 years, covering 1955 to 2023 publications. No eligible book published in 1955 or 1958 was considered suitable. From 2007 the medals are dated by the year of presentation; previously by the calendar year of British publication.
Medal winners :
| Date | Illustrator | Title | Author (if different) | Publisher |
| 2024 | Aaron Becker | The Tree and the River | | Walker Books |
| 2023 | Jeet Zdung | Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear | Trang Nguyen | Kingfisher |
| 2022 | Danica Novgorodoff | Long Way Down | Jason Reynolds | Faber & Faber |
| 2021 | Sydney Smith | Small in the City | — | Walker Books |
| 2020 | Shaun Tan | Tales from the Inner City | — | Walker Books |
| 2019 | Jackie Morris | The Lost Words | Robert Macfarlane | Hamish Hamilton |
| 2018 | Sydney Smith | Town is by the Sea | Joanne Schwartz | Walker Books |
| 2017 | Lane Smith | There is a Tribe of Kids | — | Two Hoots |
| 2016 | Chris Riddell | The Sleeper and the Spindle | Neil Gaiman | Bloomsbury |
| 2015 | William Grill | Shackleton's Journey | — | Flying Eye Books |
| 2014 | Jon Klassen | This Is Not My Hat | — | Walker Books |
| 2013 | Levi Pinfold | Black Dog | — | Templar |
| 2012 | Jim Kay | A Monster Calls | Patrick Ness | Walker Books |
| 2011 | Grahame Baker-Smith | FArTHER | — | Templar |
| 2010 | Freya Blackwood | Harry and Hopper | Margaret Wild | Scholastic |
| 2009 | Catherine Rayner | Harris Finds His Feet | — | Little Tiger |
| 2008 | Emily Gravett | Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears | — | Pan Macmillan |
| 2007 | Mini Grey | The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon | — | Jonathan Cape |
| 2006 | (The award date is the year of publication before 2006, the year of presentation after 2006.) | (The award date is the year of publication before 2006, the year of presentation after 2006.) | (The award date is the year of publication before 2006, the year of presentation after 2006.) | (The award date is the year of publication before 2006, the year of presentation after 2006.) |
| 2005 | Emily Gravett | Wolves | — | PanMacmillan |
| 2004 | Chris Riddell | Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver" | Jonathan Swift (1726) adapted | Walker Books |
| 2003 | Shirley Hughes | Ella's Big Chance | — (Cinderella adapted) | Bodley Head |
| 2002 | Bob Graham | Jethro Byrde, Fairy Child | — | Walker Books |
| 2001 | Chris Riddell | Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter | Richard Platt (informational) | Walker Books |
| 2000 | Lauren Child | I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato * | — | Orchard Books |
| 1999 | Helen Oxenbury | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland * | Lewis Carroll (1865) | Walker Books |
| 1998 | Helen Cooper | Pumpkin Soup | — | Doubleday |
| 1997 | P. J. Lynch | When Jessie Came Across the Sea | Amy Hest | Walker Books |
| 1996 | Helen Cooper | The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed | — | Doubleday |
| 1995 | P. J. Lynch | The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey | Susan Wojciechowski | Walker Books |
| 1994 | Gregory Rogers | Way Home | Libby Hathorn | Andersen |
| 1993 | Alan Lee | Black Ships Before Troy | Rosemary Sutcliff | Frances Lincoln |
| 1992 | Anthony Browne | Zoo | — | Julia MacRae |
| 1991 | Janet Ahlberg | The Jolly Christmas Postman | Allan Ahlberg | Heinemann |
| 1990 | Gary Blythe | The Whales' Song | Dyan Sheldon | Hutchinson |
| 1989 | Michael Foreman | War Boy: A Country Childhood | — (autobiographical) | Pavilion |
| 1988 | Barbara Firth | Can't You Sleep Little Bear? | Martin Waddell | Walker Books |
| 1987 | Adrienne Kennaway | Crafty Chameleon | Mwenye Hadithi | Hodder & Stoughton |
| 1986 | Fiona French | Snow White in New York | — | Oxford |
| 1985 | Juan Wijngaard | Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady | retold by Selina Hastings | Walker Books |
| 1984 | Errol Le Cain | Hiawatha's Childhood | Longfellow (1855) | Faber |
| 1983 | Anthony Browne | Gorilla * | — | Julia MacRae |
| 1982 | Michael Foreman | Long Neck and Thunder Foot (and) Sleeping Beauty and other favourite fairy tales | Helen Piers (and) traditional | Kestrel; Gollancz |
| 1981 | Charles Keeping | The Highwayman * | Alfred Noyes (1906) | Oxford |
| 1980 | Quentin Blake | Mr Magnolia * | — | Jonathan Cape |
| 1979 | Jan Pieńkowski | Haunted House | — | Heinemann |
| 1978 | Janet Ahlberg | Each Peach Pear Plum * | Allan Ahlberg | Kestrel |
| 1977 | Shirley Hughes | Dogger * | — | Bodley Head |
| 1976 | Gail E. Haley | The Post Office Cat | — | Bodley Head |
| 1975 | Victor Ambrus | Horses in Battle (and) Mishka | — (nonfiction) — | Oxford; Oxford |
| 1974 | Pat Hutchins | The Wind Blew | — (informational) | Bodley Head |
| 1973 | Raymond Briggs | Father Christmas * | — | Hamish Hamilton |
| 1972 | Krystyna Turska | The Woodcutter's Duck | — | Hamish Hamilton |
| 1971 | Jan Pieńkowski | The Kingdom Under the Sea and other stories | retold by Joan Aiken | Jonathan Cape |
| 1970 | John Burningham | Mr Gumpy's Outing | — | Jonathan Cape |
| 1969 | Helen Oxenbury | The Quangle Wangle's Hat (and) The Dragon of an Ordinary Family | Edward Lear (unknown); Margaret Mahy (1969) | Heinemann, Franklin Watts; Heinemann |
| 1968 | Pauline Baynes | A Dictionary of Chivalry | Grant Uden (reference) | Longman |
| 1967 | Charles Keeping | Charley, Charlotte and the Golden Canary | — | Oxford |
| 1966 | Raymond Briggs | Mother Goose Treasury | traditional | Hamish Hamilton |
| 1965 | Victor Ambrus | The Three Poor Tailors | — | Oxford, Hamish Hamilton |
| 1964 | C. Walter Hodges | Shakespeare's Theatre | — (nonfiction) | Oxford |
| 1963 | John Burningham | Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers * | — | Jonathan Cape |
| 1962 | Brian Wildsmith | ABC (also Brian Wildsmith's ABC) | — (no text) | Oxford |
| 1961 | Antony Maitland | Mrs Cockle's Cat | Philippa Pearce | Constable,Longman |
| 1960 | Gerald Rose | Old Winkle and the Seagulls | Elizabeth Rose | Faber |
| 1959 | William Stobbs | Kashtanka (and) A Bundle of Ballads | Anton Chekhov (1887); Ruth Manning-Sanders from the Child Ballads | Oxford; Oxford |
| 1958 | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) |
| 1957 | V. H. Drummond | Mrs Easter and the Storks | — | Faber |
| 1956 | Edward Ardizzone | Tim All Alone * | — | Oxford |
| 1955 | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) | (Prize withheld as no book considered suitable) |
* Named to the 50th Anniversary Top Ten in 2007.

## Winners of multiple awards

Only one illustrator, Chris Riddell, has won three Medals. Fourteen other illustrators have won two of the 64 Medals awarded through 2021. The first winner of two Medals was John Burningham, 1963 and 1970. The most recent is Sydney Smith in 2018 and 2021.
Only A Monster Calls (Walker Books, 2011), by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay, has won both the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals for writing and illustration (2012).
In 2014, This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen won both the Greenaway Medal and the American Caldecott Medal, which recognises a picture book illustrated by a U.S. citizen or resident. This is the first time the same book has won both medals. The recently common practice of co-publication makes a double win possible. Indeed, This Is Not My Hat was released in Britain and America on the same day, 9 October 2012, by Walker Books and its American subsidiary Candlewick Press.
Gail E. Haley was the first illustrator to win both medals, albeit for different works: the 1971 Caldecott for A Story a Story (1970) and the 1976 Greenaway for The Post Office Cat. She also wrote both books.
Helen Oxenbury, who won the 1969 and 1999 medals, was also a "Highly Commended" runner-up four times from 1989 to 1994; the distinction was used 31 times in 29 years to 2002 and no other illustrator was highly commended more than twice. Michael Foreman, who won the 1982 and 1989 medals, was highly commended once and four times a "Commended" runner-up, a distinction used 68 times in 44 years to 2002.
Walker Books, based in London, with American subsidiary Candlewick Press in Somerville, MA, has published 10 of the 30 Greenaway Medal-winning works from 1985 to 2014.

## 50-year Greenaway of Greenaways (2007)

For the 50th medal anniversary, CILIP posted online information about all of the winning works (1955–2005) and conducted a poll to identify the nation's favourite Kate Greenaway Medalist. The public were invited to send in their nominations between 16 October and 1 December 2006. Polling was subsequently opened between 20 April and 14 June 2007 for ten shortlisted titles determined by a panel and the winner was announced on 21 June 2007 at the British Library. By less than one percentage point Dogger, illustrated and written by Shirley Hughes (1977), outpolled Each Peach Pear Plum illustrated by Janet Ahlberg and written by Allan Ahlberg (1978).
The nation, and international voters too, considered a ballot or all-time shortlist comprising ten of the 50 Medal-winning works, selected by six "children's book experts". The panel provided annotations including recommended ages that range from 1+ to 10+ years; age 4+ for the winner.
50th Anniversary Top Ten
* Janet Ahlberg, Each Peach Pear Plum (Kestrel, 1978), written by Allan Ahlberg
* Edward Ardizzone, Tim All Alone (Oxford, 1956)
* Quentin Blake, Mr Magnolia (Jonathan Cape, 1980)
* Raymond Briggs, Father Christmas (Hamish Hamilton, 1973)
* Anthony Browne, Gorilla (Julia MacRae, 1983)
* John Burningham, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers (Jonathan Cape, 1963)
* Lauren Child, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (Orchard, 2000)
* Shirley Hughes, Dogger (Bodley Head, 1977)
* Charles Keeping, The Highwayman (Oxford, 1981), an edition of the 1906 poem by Alfred Noyes
* Helen Oxenbury, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Walker, 1999), an edition of the 1865 novel by Lewis Carroll

## Shortlists and Honorees

Headings give the official award dates: years of publication before 2006; years of presentation after 2006.
Prior to the 1990's these listings cover only the Medalist and known Highly Commended (+) or Commended (–) books.

### 1954 Carnegie Medal

Illustrator Harold Jones received a Special Commendation for the 1954 Carnegie Medal, for his part in Lavender's Blue: A Book of Nursery Rhymes, compiled by Kathleen Lines (Oxford) — a 180-page collection named for "Lavender's Blue", which Oxford University Press has reprinted many times. It was "a major reason" for the Library Association to establish the Kate Greenaway Medal that year. No 1955 work was judged worthy in 1956, so the Greenaway was actually inaugurated one year later, recognising a 1956 publication.

### 1955 to 1989

1955 (not awarded)
1956 Edward Ardizzone, Tim All Alone (Oxford) @
Ardizzone had inaugurated the Tim series in 1936 with Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain (Oxford); its last sequel was Ships Cook Ginger (1977). Tim All Alone was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1957 V. H. Drummond, Mrs Easter and the Storks (Faber) @
1958 (not awarded)
No work was considered suitable, the second and last time.
1959 William Stobbs, Kashtanka (Oxford), by Anton Chekhov (1887) and A Bundle of Ballads (Oxford), by Ruth Manning-Sanders from the Child Ballads (19th century collection)
    – Edward Ardizzone, Titus in Trouble (Bodley Head), by James Reeves
    – Gerald Rose, Wuffles Goes To Town (Faber), by Elizabeth Rose
The 1959 medal recognised two books, the first of four such occasions to 1982. Two runners-up were "Commended", a new distinction that would be used 99 times in 44 years to 2002, including 31 "Highly Commended" books that were named beginning 1974.
1960 Gerald Rose, Old Winkle and the Seagulls (Faber), by Elizabeth Rose
    (no commendations)
1961 Antony Maitland, Mrs Cockle's Cat (Constable; Longman), by Philippa Pearce
    (no commendations)
1962 Brian Wildsmith, ABC (Oxford) @
    – Carol Barker, Achilles the Donkey (Dobson), by H. E. Bates
ABC was Wildsmith's first book, an alphabet book without any words, commissioned by Mabel George at Oxford.
1963 John Burningham, Borka: The Adventures of a Goose With No Feathers (Jonathan Cape) @
    – Victor Ambrus, The Royal Navy (Oxford), by Peter Dawlish
    – Victor Ambrus, A Time of Trial (Oxford), by Hester Burton
    – Brian Wildsmith, The Lion and the Rat: A Fable (Oxford), by Jean de La Fontaine (1668), from Aesop (6th century BCE)
    – Brian Wildsmith, Oxford Book of Poetry for Children (Oxford), ed. Edward Blishen
Borka was Burningham's first book as an author or illustrator and it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1964 C. Walter Hodges, Shakespeare's Theatre (Oxford) @ —nonfiction
    – Raymond Briggs, Fee Fi Fo Fum (Hamish Hamilton) @
    – Victor Ambrus, for work in general
    – William Papas, for work in general
Hodges was a freelance illustrator, a lover of theatre, and an authority on theatre construction in Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare's Theatre was the first nonfiction book cited for the medal.
Ambrus and Papas received the first and only commendations for "work in general".
1965 Victor Ambrus, The Three Poor Tailors (Oxford; Hamish Hamilton) @
    (no commendations)
The Three Poor Tailors was the first-published book written by Ambrus, who had illustrated dozens of fiction and nonfiction books for Oxford since immigrating from Hungary via Austria.
1966 Raymond Briggs, Mother Goose Treasury (Hamish Hamilton), traditional
    – Doreen Roberts, The Story of Saul the King (Constable; Oxford), abridged from Helen Waddell, Stories from Holy Writ (1949)
1967 Charles Keeping, Charley, Charlotte and the Golden Canary (Oxford) @
    – William Papas, The Church (Oxford), by Geoffrey Moorhouse
    – William Papas, No Mules (Oxford) @
    – Brian Wildsmith, Birds (Oxford) @
1968 Pauline Baynes, A Dictionary of Chivalry (Longman), by Grant Uden —reference
    – Gaynor Chapman, The Luck Child: Based on a story of the Brothers Grimm (Hamish Hamilton), based on Brothers Grimm
    – Shirley Hughes, Flutes and Cymbals: Poetry for the Young (Bodley Head), compiled by Leonard Clark
    – William Papas, A Letter from India (Oxford) @ —information book
    – William Papas, A Letter from Israel (Oxford) @ —information book
    – William Papas, Taresh the tea planter (Oxford) @
Baynes alone has won the medal for illustrating a reference book; only a few nonfiction or fictionalised information books have been cited.
The distinguished runners-up (–) were called "Honours" rather than "Commended" for 1968, 1969, and perhaps 1970.
1969 Helen Oxenbury, The Quangle Wangle's Hat (Heinemann; Franklin Watts), by Edward Lear (late 19th century) and The Dragon of an Ordinary Family (Heinemann), by Margaret Mahy
    – Errol Le Cain, The Cabbage Princess (Faber) @
    – Charles Keeping, Joseph's Yard (Longman) @
The distinguished runners-up (–) were called "Honours" again.
1970 John Burningham, Mr Gumpy's Outing (Jonathan Cape) @
    – Charles Keeping, The God Beneath the Sea (Longman), by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen
    – Jan Pieńkowski, The Golden Bird (J. M. Dent), by Edith Brill
    – Krystyna Turska, Pegasus (Hamish Hamilton), the myth of Pegasus and Bellerophon retold by Turska
Burningham became the first to win two medals, 1963 and 1970, one year after his wife Helen Oxenbury won her first of two. As of 2012 fourteen illustrators have won two Greenaways, none three.
Garfield and Blishen won the companion Carnegie Medal for The God Beneath the Sea. (For more than fifty years until 2012, no single book won both of the CILIP awards.)
1971 Jan Pieńkowski, The Kingdom under the Sea and other stories (Jonathan Cape), retold by Joan Aiken
    – Victor Ambrus, The Sultan's Bath (Oxford) @
    – Brian Wildsmith, The Owl and the Woodpecker (Oxford) @
(One source calls these two runners-up "Highly Commended". They would be the first.)
1972 Krystyna Turska, The Woodcutter's Duck (Hamish Hamilton) @
    – Carol Barker, King Midas and the Golden Touch (Franklin Watts), a version of the Midas myth
    – Pauline Baynes, Snail and Caterpillar (Longman), by Helen Piers
    – Antony Maitland, The Ghost Downstairs (Longman), by Leon Garfield
1973 Raymond Briggs, Father Christmas (Hamish Hamilton) @
    – Fiona French, King Tree (Oxford) @
    – Errol Lloyd, My Brother Sean (Bodley Head), by Petronella Breinburg
Briggs introduced the grumpy old man with a challenging, lonely job, to be continued in Father Christmas Goes on Holiday ( ). Father Christmas was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1974 Pat Hutchins, The Wind Blew (Bodley Head) @
    – Mitsumasa Anno, Anno's Alphabet (Bodley Head) @
    + Charles Keeping, Railway Passage (Oxford) @
The Wind Blew has been called informative, meteorological poetry.
(According to answers.com citing Gale Biographies, Anno's Alphabet was ineligible for the medal, with its Japanese author and original publisher.)
1975 Victor Ambrus, Horses in Battle (Oxford) @ and Mishka (Oxford) @
    – Shirley Hughes, Helpers (Bodley Head) @
    – Errol Le Cain, Thorn Rose, or the Sleeping Beauty (Faber), from Brothers Grimm
Ambrus won his second medal. Horses in Battle, nonfiction or fictionalised history, is the latest "information book" to be cited except for one, Pirate Diary (2001).
1976 Gail E. Haley, The Post Office Cat (Bodley Head) @
    + Graham Oakley, The Church Mice Adrift (Macmillan) @ —fifth of 12 Church Mice books
    + Maureen Roffey, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor (Bodley Head), by Bernard Lodge
    + Joanna Troughton, How the Birds Changed Their Feathers (Blackie, Folk Tales of the World), retold and illustrated by Troughton @
Haley had won the 1971 Caldecott Medal (U.S.) and moved to the U.K. in 1973. No one else has won both medals, which CILIP rules and co-publication enable in the 21st century.
1977 Shirley Hughes, Dogger (Bodley Head) @
    – Janet Ahlberg, Burglar Bill (Heinemann), by Allan Ahlberg
    – Mary Rayner, Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady (Macmillan) @
Dogger was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007, and was voted the public favourite from that slate.
1978 Janet Ahlberg, Each Peach Pear Plum (Kestrel), by Allan Ahlberg
    + Raymond Briggs, The Snowman (Hamish Hamilton) @ —no text
    – Michael Foreman, Popular Folk Tales (Gollancz), newly translated from Brothers Grimm by Brian Alderson
    – Errol Le Cain, The Twelve Dancing Princesses (Faber), retold from Brothers Grimm by Le Cain
Each Peach Pear Plum was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007, and finished a close second in public voting on that slate.
1979 Jan Pieńkowski, The Haunted House (Heinemann) @
    + Quentin Blake, The Wild Washerwomen: A new folk tale ( ), by John Yeoman
    – Pat Hutchins, One-Eyed Jack ( ) @
Pieńkowski won his second medal.
1980 Quentin Blake, Mr Magnolia (Jonathan Cape) @
    – Beryl Cook, Seven Years and a Day (Collins), by Colette O'Hare
    + Michael Foreman, City of Gold and other stories from the Old Testament (Gollancz), retold by Peter Dickinson
    – Jill Murphy, Peace at Last ( ) @
Mister Magnolia was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
Dickinson won the companion Carnegie Medal for City of Gold. (For more than fifty years until 2012, no single book won both of the CILIP awards.)
1981 Charles Keeping, The Highwayman (Oxford), an edition of the 1906 poem by Alfred Noyes
    – Nicola Bayley, The Patchwork Cat (Jonathan Cape), by William Mayne
    + Jan Ormerod, Sunshine (Kestrel) @
Keeping won his second medal. The Highwayman was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007.
1982 Michael Foreman, Long Neck and Thunder Foot (Kestrel), by Helen Piers and Sleeping Beauty and other favourite fairy tales (Gollancz), selected and translated by Angela Carter
    – Janet Ahlberg, The Baby's Catalogue ( ), by Allan Ahlberg
    + Graham Oakley, The Church Mice in Action (Macmillan) @ —eighth of twelve Church Mice books
The 1982 medal recognised two books, the last of four times from 1959. Sleeping Beauty also won the inaugural Kurt Maschler Award for children's book "text and illustration ... integrated so that each enhances and balances the other."
Oakley and the Church Mice series were highly commended for the second time, the first double recognition for a series (books five and eight). Subsequently, Janet Ahlberg (Jolly Postman series) and Chris Riddell (Diary series) were runners-up for the first books and medalists for the sequels.
1983 Anthony Browne, Gorilla (Julia MacRae) @
    – Molly Bang, Ten, Nine, Eight ( ) @ —a counting book
    – Michael Foreman, The Saga of Erik the Viking (Pavilion), by Terry Jones
    – Ron Maris, My Book (Julia MacRae) @
Gorilla was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007. It also won the annual Kurt Maschler Award for integrated text and illustration.
Ten, Nine, Eight was also a runner-up for the U.S. Caldecott Medal ("Honour Book").
1984 Errol Le Cain, Hiawatha's Childhood (Faber), a section of the 1855 poem by Longfellow
    (no commendations)
1985 Juan Wijngaard, Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (Walker), retold by Selina Hastings
    – Michael Foreman, Seasons of Splendour: Tales, myths, and legends of India (Pavilion), by Madhur Jaffrey
    – Gillian McClure, Tog the Ribber, or, Granny's Tale (Andre Deutsch), poem by Paul Coltman
1986 Fiona French, Snow White in New York (Oxford) @
    – Janet Ahlberg, The Jolly Postman (Heinemann), by Allan Ahlberg
    – Paddy Bouma, Are We Nearly There? (Bodley Head), by Louis Baum
    – Babette Cole, Princess Smartypants ( ) @
    + Jan Ormerod, Happy Christmas, Gemma (Walker), by Sarah Hayes
    – Fiona Pragoff, How Many?: From 0 to 20 (Gollancz) @
    – Tony Ross, I Want My Potty ( ) @ —the first Little Princess book
The Ahlbergs won the Emils for The Jolly Postman (Kurt Maschler Award).
1987 Adrienne Kennaway, Crafty Chameleon (Hodder & Stoughton), by Mwenye Hadithi
    – Babette Cole, Prince Cinders ( ) @
    – Errol Le Cain, The Enchanter's Daughter (Jonathan Cape), by Antonia Barber
    – Jill Murphy, All in One Piece ( ) @
1988 Barbara Firth, Can't You Sleep Little Bear? (Walker), by Martin Waddell
    – Ruth Brown, Ladybird, Ladybird (Andersen), a traditional rhyme
    + Anthony Browne, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ( ), an edition of the 1865 classic by Lewis Carroll
    – Penny Dale, Wake Up Mr. B! (Walker) @
    + Roberto Innocenti, The Adventures of Pinocchio (Creative Education), an edition of the 1883 classic by Carlo Collodi
    + Alan Lee, Merlin Dreams ( ), by Peter Dickinson
Browne won an Emil for this edition of Alice (Kurt Maschler Award).
Special 1988 commendation: David Burnie, Bird (Dorling Kindersley, in association with the National History Museum)
1989 Michael Foreman, War Boy: a Country Childhood (Pavilion) @ —autobiographical
    + Helen Oxenbury, We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Walker), retold by Michael Rosen
Foreman won his second medal. Oxenbury was highly commended for the first of four times.

### 1990s

In 1991 Janet Ahlberg won her second medal, both for books that were husband-and-wife collaborations. The Jolly Christmas Postman was the second of three interactive Jolly Postman books; the last would be published posthumously. Janet Ahlberg is one of three people to be commended for the Greenaway Medal, at least, for two books in a series.
1992 saw Anthony Browne win his second medal, on this occasion for Zoo written by Julia MacRae.
In 1993 Michael Foreman was a distinguished runner-up for the fifth time (once highly commended).
In 1994 Helen Oxenbury was the lone "Highly Commended" runner-up for the fourth time in six years. The distinction would be used 31 times in 29 years to 2002. Oxenbury and author Trish Cooke would also win the Emils (Kurt Maschler Award) for So Much.
In 1995 Patrick Benson and author Kathy Henderson won the Emils (Kurt Maschler Award) for The Little Boat.
1997, 1998 and 1999 marked second medal wins for three different illustrators. In 1997 P. J. Lynch won for the second time with When Jessie Came Across the Sea, and in 1998 Helen Cooper did the same with Pumpkin Soup. The final year of the decade saw Helen Oxenbury win her second Greenaway Medal for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which would go onto be named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007. Oxenbury also won her second Emil (Kurt Maschler Award), which were subsequently discontinued having run from 1982 to 1999.
Colour key:
    – Medal Winner
    – Highly commended
    – Commended
Medal winners, Commendations and Shortlists, 1990-1999 :
| Year | Illustrator | Title | Publisher | Author (if different) | Result |
| 1990 | Gary Blythe | The Whales' Song | Hutchinson | Dyan Sheldon | Winner |
| 1990 | Tony Ross | Dr Xargle's Book of Earth Tiggers | Andersen Press | Jeanne Willis | Highly commended |
| 1990 | Nicola Bayley | The Mousehole Cat | Walker Books | Antonia Barber | Commended |
| 1990 | Roberto Innocenti | A Christmas Carol | Creative Education | an edition of the 1843 classic by Charles Dickens | Commended |
| 1990 | Penny Dale | Rosie's Babies | Walker Books | Martin Waddell | Shortlist |
| 1990 | Kim Lewis | The Shepherd Boy | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1990 | Jane Ray | Noah’s Ark | Orchard Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1991 | Janet Ahlberg | The Jolly Christmas Postman | Heinemann | Allan Ahlberg | Winner |
| 1991 | Helen Oxenbury | Farmer Duck | Walker Books | Martin Waddell | Highly commended |
| 1991 | Caroline Binch | Amazing Grace | Dial | Mary Hoffman | Commended |
| 1991 | Jeannie Baker | Window | Julia MacRae | — (no text) | Shortlist |
| 1991 | Fiona French | Anancy and Mr Dry-Bone | Frances Lincoln | — | Shortlist |
| 1991 | P. J. Lynch | East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon | Walker Books | translated by George W. Dasent | Shortlist |
| 1991 | Jane Ray | The Story of Christmas | Orchard Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Anthony Browne | Zoo | Julia MacRae | — | Winner |
| 1992 | Jill Barton | The Pig in the Pond | Walker Books | Martin Waddell | Highly commended |
| 1992 | Caroline Binch | Hue Boy | Dial | Rita Phillips Mitchell | Highly commended |
| 1992 | Stephen Biesty | Incredible Cross-Sections | Dorling Kindersley | Richard Platt | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Robert Ingpen | Treasure Island | Dragon's World | an edition of the 1883 classic by Robert Louis Stevenson | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Francesca Martin | The Honey Hunters | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1992 | Korky Paul | The Dog That Dug | Bodley Head | Jonathan Long | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Alan Lee | Black Ships Before Troy | Frances Lincoln | Rosemary Sutcliff | Winner |
| 1993 | Helen Oxenbury | The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig | Heinemann Young Books | Eugene Trivizas | Highly commended |
| 1993 | Michael Foreman | War Game | Pavilion | — | Commended |
| 1993 | Angela Barrett | Beware Beware | Walker Books | Susan Hill | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Gary Blythe | The Garden | Hutchinson | Dyan Sheldon | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Helen Cooper | The Bear Under the Stairs | Doubleday | — | Shortlist |
| 1993 | Jill Murphy | A Quiet Night In | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Gregory Rogers | Way Home | Andersen Press | Libby Hathorn | Winner |
| 1994 | Helen Oxenbury | So Much | Walker Books | Trish Cooke | Highly commended |
| 1994 | Chris Riddell | Something Else | Puffin | Kathryn Cave | Commended |
| 1994 | Caroline Binch | Gregory Cool | Frances Lincoln | — | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Anthony Browne | King Kong | Julia MacRae | from the 1932 novelised story of King Kong | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Paul Geraghty | The Hunter | Hutchinson | — | Shortlist |
| 1994 | P. J. Lynch | Catkin | Walker Books | Antonia Barber | Shortlist |
| 1994 | Jane Ray | The Happy Prince | Orchard Books | from the fairy tale by Oscar Wilde | Shortlist |
| 1995 | P. J. Lynch | The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey | Walker Books | Susan Wojciechowski | Winner |
| 1995 | Patrick Benson | The Little Boat | Walker Books | Kathy Henderson | Highly commended |
| 1995 | Quentin Blake | Clown | Jonathan Cape | — | Commended |
| 1995 | Christina Balit | Blodin the Beast | Frances Lincoln | Michael Morpurgo | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Ken Brown | Tattybogle | Andersen Press | Sandra Horn | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Mick Inkpen | Nothing | Hodder | — | Shortlist |
| 1995 | Colin McNaughton | Here Come the Aliens | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Helen Cooper | The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed | Doubleday | — | Winner |
| 1996 | Caroline Binch | Down by the River | Heinemann | Grace Hallworth | Highly commended |
| 1996 | Christina Balit | Ishtar and Tammuz: A Babylonian myth of the seasons | Frances Lincoln | retold by Christopher Moore | Commended |
| 1996 | Ruth Brown | The Tale of the Monstrous Toad | Andersen Press | — | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Susan Field | The Smallest Whale | Orchard Books | Elisabeth Beresford | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Debi Gliori | Mr Bear to the Rescue | Orchard Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Colin McNaughton | Oops! | Andersen Press | — | Shortlist |
| 1996 | Korky Paul | The Duck That Had No Luck | Bodley Head | Jonathan Long | Shortlist |
| 1997 | P. J. Lynch | When Jessie Came Across the Sea | Walker Books | Amy Hest | Winner |
| 1997 | Bob Graham | Queenie the Bantam | Walker Books | — | Highly commended |
| 1997 | Charlotte Voake | Ginger | Walker Books | — | Highly commended |
| 1997 | Ken Brown | Mucky Pup | Andersen Press | — | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Anthony Browne | Willy the Dreamer | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Peter Collington | A Small Miracle | Jonathan Cape | — (no text) | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Clare Mackie | Book of Nonsense | Macdonald Young Books | Michael Rosen | Shortlist |
| 1997 | Sophie Windham | Unicorns! Unicorns! | Hutchinson | Geraldine McCaughrean | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Helen Cooper | Pumpkin Soup | Doubleday | — | Winner |
| 1998 | Shirley Hughes | The Lion and the Unicorn | Bodley Head | — | Highly commended |
| 1998 | Jane Simmons | Come on Daisy! | Orchard Books | — | Highly commended |
| 1998 | Christian Birmingham | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | HarperCollins | an edition of the 1950 classic by C. S. Lewis | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Quentin Blake | Zagazoo | Jonathan Cape | — | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Anthony Browne | Voices in the Park | Doubleday | — | Shortlist |
| 1998 | Emma Chichester Clark | I Love You, Blue Kangaroo | Andersen Press | — | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Helen Oxenbury | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Walker Books | an edition of the 1865 classic by Lewis Carroll | Winner |
| 1999 | Lauren Child | Clarice Bean, That's Me! | Orchard Books | — | Highly commended |
| 1999 | Chris Riddell | Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page | Walker Books | Richard Platt | Highly commended |
| 1999 | Kevin Hawkes | Weslandia | Walker Books | Paul Fleischman | Commended |
| 1999 | Patrick Benson | The Sea-Thing Child | Walker Books | Russell Hoban | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Christian Birmingham | Wombat Goes Walkabout | HarperCollins | Michael Morpurgo | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Kathy Henderson | The Storm | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 1999 | Simon James | Days Like This | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |

### 2000s

Thanks to a bequest left in 2000 by children’s book and illustration collector, Colin Mears, the winner now receives a cheque for £5000 along with the Greenaway Medal.
The winning book in the year 2000, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works in 2007, and ranked third in public voting from that slate.
In 2001, Pirate Diary became the latest "information book" to be cited for the medal and the first since 1975. It was the second in a series of four first-person journals, inaugurated by Richard Platt and Chris Riddell in 1999 (Castle Diary) and continued by Platt with another illustrator. Riddell was the third and latest illustrator to be at least commended for the Greenaway for books in a series, following Graham Oakley (Church Mice, 1976 and 1982) and Janet Ahlberg (Jolly Postman, 1986 and 1991).
2002 saw Bob Graham become the first medalist from Australia. Lauren Child was the last "Commended" or "Highly Commended" runner-up; there had been 99 such distinctions over 44 years.
Twenty-six years after her first medal, 2003 marked a second win for Shirley Hughes and Ella's Big Chance —a retelling of Cinderella. Commendations ceased to be awarded in this year. Since 2003 there have usually been eight books on the shortlist.
In 2004, Chris Riddell was awarded his second medal, this time for Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver". In this year there were only 7 shortlisted books.
Wolves by Emily Gravett in its U.S. edition was Gravett's first book as author or illustrator, just one year out of college. She won the 49th Greenaway Medal, awarded in its 51st year (2005). Three years later in 2008, when once again there were only 7 shortlisted nominations, Emily Gravett won her second medal for her fourth book, with the cover title Little Mouse's Emily Gravett's Big Book of Fears.
Colour key:
    – Medal Winner
    – Highly commended
    – Commended
Medal winners, Commendations and Shortlists, 2000-2009 :
| Year | Illustrator | Title | Publisher | Author (if different) | Result | Ref. |
| 2000 | Lauren Child | I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato | Orchard Books | — | Winner | |
| 2000 | Anthony Browne | Willy's Pictures | | — | Highly commended | |
| 2000 | Ted Dewan | Crispin: The Pig Who Had It All | Transworld | — | Commended | |
| 2000 | Ruth Brown | Snail Trail | | — | Shortlist | |
| 2000 | Lauren Child | Beware of the Storybook Wolves | Hodder Children's Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2000 | Jane Ray | Fairy Tales | Walker Books | Berlie Doherty | Shortlist | |
| 2001 | Chris Riddell | Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter | Walker Books | Richard Platt | Winner | |
| 2001 | Jez Alborough | Fix-it Duck | Picture Lions | — | Highly commended | |
| 2001 | Charles Fuge | Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball | Gullane | Vicki Churchill | Highly commended | |
| 2001 | Russell Ayto | The Witch's Children | Orchard Books | Ursula Jones | Shortlist | |
| 2001 | Nicola Bayley | Katje the Windmill Cat | Walker Books | Gretchen Woelfle | Shortlist | |
| 2001 | Caroline Binch | Silver Shoes | Dorling Kindersley | — | Shortlist | |
| 2001 | Helen Cooper | Tatty Ratty | Doubleday | — | Shortlist | |
| 2001 | Bob Graham | Let's Get a Pup! | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2002 | Bob Graham | Jethro Byrde, Fairy Child | Walker Books | — | Winner | |
| 2002 | Lauren Child | That Pesky Rat | Orchard Books | — | Commended | |
| 2002 | Simon Bartram | Man on the Moon | Templar | — | Shortlist | |
| 2002 | Nick Butterworth | Albert le Blanc | Collins | — | Shortlist | |
| 2002 | Lauren Child | Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book? | Hodder | — | Shortlist | |
| 2002 | David Melling | The Kiss That Missed | Hodder | — | Shortlist | |
| 2002 | Nick Sharratt | Pants | David Fickling Books | Giles Andrae | Shortlist | |
| 2002 | Helen Ward | The Cockerel and the Fox | Templar | —a retelling of Chanticleer and the Fox | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Shirley Hughes | Ella's Big Chance | Bodley Head | —a retelling of Cinderella | Winner | |
| 2003 | Anthony Browne | The Shape Game | Doubleday | — | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Alexis Deacon | Beegu | Hutchinson | — | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Debi Gliori | Always and Forever | Doubleday | Alan Durant | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Mini Grey | The Pea and the Princess | Red Fox | —a retelling of "The Princess and the Pea" | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Dave McKean | The Wolves in the Walls | Bloomsbury | Neil Gaiman | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Bee Willey | Bob Robber and Dancing Jane | Jonathan Cape | Andrew Matthews | Shortlist | |
| 2003 | Chris Wormell | Two Frogs | Red Fox ; Jonathan Cape | — | Shortlist | |
| 2004 | Chris Riddell | Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver" | Walker Books | the 1726 classic Gulliver's Travels adapted by Martin Jenkins | Winner | |
| 2004 | Ian Andrew | The Boat | Templar | Helen Ward | Shortlist | |
| 2004 | Russell Ayto | One More Sheep | Hodder | Mij Kelly | Shortlist | |
| 2004 | Simon Bartram | Dougal's Deep-Sea Diary | Templar | — | Shortlist | |
| 2004 | Quentin Blake | Michael Rosen's Sad Book | Walker Books | Michael Rosen | Shortlist | |
| 2004 | Nick Butterworth | The Whisperer | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist | |
| 2004 | John Kelly | Guess Who's Coming For Dinner? | Templar | Cathy Tincknell | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | Emily Gravett | Wolves | Pan Macmillan | — | Winner | |
| 2005 | Tony DiTerlizzi | Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You | Simon & Schuster | Holly Black | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | Mini Grey | Traction Man is Here | Red Fox | — | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | Oliver Jeffers | Lost and Found | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | Dave McKean | Mirrormask | Bloomsbury | Neil Gaiman | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | Jane Ray | Jinnie Ghost | Frances Lincoln | Berlie Doherty | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | David Roberts | Little Red: A Fizzingly Good Yarn | Abrams Books | Lynn Roberts | Shortlist | |
| 2005 | Rob Scotton | Russell the Sheep | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist | |
| 2006 | After 2006 the awards year was adjusted. Before 2007 the year refers to when the book was published rather than when the medal was awarded i.e. the 2005 winner was announced and the medal presented in July 2006. | After 2006 the awards year was adjusted. Before 2007 the year refers to when the book was published rather than when the medal was awarded i.e. the 2005 winner was announced and the medal presented in July 2006. | After 2006 the awards year was adjusted. Before 2007 the year refers to when the book was published rather than when the medal was awarded i.e. the 2005 winner was announced and the medal presented in July 2006. | After 2006 the awards year was adjusted. Before 2007 the year refers to when the book was published rather than when the medal was awarded i.e. the 2005 winner was announced and the medal presented in July 2006. | After 2006 the awards year was adjusted. Before 2007 the year refers to when the book was published rather than when the medal was awarded i.e. the 2005 winner was announced and the medal presented in July 2006. | After 2006 the awards year was adjusted. Before 2007 the year refers to when the book was published rather than when the medal was awarded i.e. the 2005 winner was announced and the medal presented in July 2006. |
| 2007 | Mini Grey | The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon | Jonathan Cape | — | Winner | |
| 2007 | Ross Collins | The Elephantom | Templar | — | Shortlist | |
| 2007 | Emily Gravett | Orange Pear Apple Bear | Pan Macmillan | — (four words only) | Shortlist | |
| 2007 | John Kelly and Cathy Tincknell | Scoop! An Exclusive by Monty Molenski | Templar | — | Shortlist | |
| 2007 | Catherine Rayner | Augustus and His Smile | Little Tiger | — | Shortlist | |
| 2007 | Chris Riddell | The Emperor of Absurdia | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist | |
| 2008 | Emily Gravett | Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears | Pan Macmillan | — | Winner | |
| 2008 | Anthony Browne | Silly Billy | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2008 | Polly Dunbar | Penguin | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2008 | Emily Gravett | Monkey and Me | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist | |
| 2008 | Jane Ray | The Lost Happy Endings | Bloomsbury | Carol Ann Duffy | Shortlist | |
| 2008 | Chris Riddell | Ottoline and the Yellow Cat | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist | |
| 2008 | Ed Vere | Banana! | Puffin Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Catherine Rayner | Harris Finds His Feet | Little Tiger | — | Winner | |
| 2009 | Angela Barrett | The Snow Goose | Hutchinson | an edition of the 1941 novella by Paul Gallico | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Marc Craste | Varmints | Templar | Helen Ward | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Thomas Docherty | Little Boat | Templar | — | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Bob Graham | How to Heal a Broken Wing | Walker Books | — | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Oliver Jeffers | The Way Back Home | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Dave McKean | The Savage | Walker Books | David Almond | Shortlist | |
| 2009 | Chris Wormell | Molly and the Night Monster | Jonathan Cape | — | Shortlist | |

### 2010s

In 2012, Jim Kay and Patrick Ness won both the Greenaway and Carnegie Medals for A Monster Calls, the first such double. Prior to this, two illustrators of Carnegie Medal-winning books had been runners-up for the Greenaway, namely Charles Keeping (The God Beneath the Sea, 1970) and Michael Foreman (City of Gold, 1980).
2014 marked the first time that the same book had won both the Greenaway and Caldecott medals, having won the latter in 2013. The winner, Jon Klassen, the first Greenaway medalist from Canada, was shortlisted for two separate publications. In this year the shortlist comprised only seven nominations as opposed to the usual slate of eight.
In 2016, Chris Riddell became the first triple medalist in the history of the award, having also previously won in 2001 and 2004.
From 2016 to 2018 an additional award, The Amnesty CLIP Honour, was bestowed upon a shortlisted entry in conjunction with Amnesty International for "books that most distinctively illuminate, uphold or celebrate freedoms." In 2016 There’s a Bear on My Chair received the inaugural honour and in 2017 the winner was The Journey, illustrated and written by Italian artist Francesca Sanna, which followed a family of refugees. In 2018, Levi Penfold received the honour for his black and white illustrations in The Song from Somewhere Else.
In 2018 there were only seven shortlisted nominees as opposed to the usual slate of eight. The winner, Sydney Smith would go on to win again in 2021.
In 2019 the Amnesty CLIP Honour was superseded by the Shadowers' Choice Award, voted for and awarded by children and young people who shadow the Medals.
Colour key:
    – Medal Winner
    – Amnesty CLIP Honour (2016–2018) and Shadowers' Choice Award (2019–) winner if different from Medal winner
Medal winners and Shortlists, 2010-2019 :
| Year | Illustrator | Title | Publisher | Author (if different) | Result |
| 2010 | Freya Blackwood | Harry and Hopper | Scholastic | Margaret Wild | Winner |
| 2010 | Grahame Baker-Smith | Leon and the Place Between | Templar | Angela McAllister | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Oliver Jeffers | The Great Paper Caper | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Satoshi Kitamura | Millie's Marvellous Hat | Andersen | — | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Dave McKean | Crazy Hair | Bloomsbury | Neil Gaiman | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Chris Riddell | The Graveyard Book | Bloomsbury | Neil Gaiman | Shortlist |
| 2010 | David Roberts | The Dunderheads | Walker Books | Paul Fleischman | Shortlist |
| 2010 | Viviane Schwarz | There Are Cats in This Book | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Grahame Baker-Smith | FArTHER | Templar | — | Winner |
| 2011 | Anthony Browne | Me and You | Doubleday | — | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Bob Graham | April Underhill Tooth Fairy | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Mini Grey | Jim | Jonathan Cape | Hilaire Belloc, 1907 | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Oliver Jeffers | The Heart and the Bottle | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Kristin Oftedal | Big Bear, Little Brother | Pan Macmillan | Carl Norac | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Catherine Rayner | Ernest | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2011 | Juan Wijngaard | Cloud Tea Monkeys | Walker Books | Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Jim Kay | A Monster Calls | Walker Books | Patrick Ness | Winner |
| 2012 | Emily Gravett | Wolf Won't Bite! | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Petr Horáček | Puffin Peter | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Dave McKean | Slog's Dad | Walker Books | David Almond | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Catherine Rayner | Solomon Crocodile | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Rob Ryan | The Gift | Barefoot Books | Carol Ann Duffy | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Viviane Schwarz | There Are No Cats in This Book | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2012 | Vicky White | Can We Save the Tiger? (nonfiction) | Walker Books | Martin Jenkins | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Levi Pinfold | Black Dog | Templar | — | Winner |
| 2013 | Rebecca Cobb | Lunchtime | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Emily Gravett | Again! | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Chris Haughton | Oh No, George! | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Jon Klassen | I Want My Hat Back | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Chris Mould | Pirates 'n' Pistols | Hodder | — | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Helen Oxenbury | King Jack and the Dragon | Puffin Books | Peter Bently | Shortlist |
| 2013 | Salvatore Rubbino | Just Ducks! | Walker Books | Nicola Davies | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Jon Klassen | This is Not My Hat | Walker Books | — | Winner |
| 2014 | Rebecca Cobb | The Paper Dolls | Pan Macmillan | Julia Donaldson | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Olivia Gill | Where My Wellies Take Me | Templar | Michael Morpurgo and Clare Morpurgo | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Oliver Jeffers | The Day the Crayons Quit | HarperCollins | Drew Daywalt | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Jon Klassen | The Dark | Orchard Books | Lemony Snicket | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Dave McKean | Mouse Bird Snake Wolf | Walker Books | David Almond | Shortlist |
| 2014 | Birgitta Sif | Oliver | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2015 | William Grill | Shackleton's Journey | Flying Eye Books | — | Winner |
| 2015 | Laura Carlin | The Promise | Walker Books | Nicola Davies | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Alexis Deacon | Jim's Lion | Walker Books | Russell Hoban | Shortlist |
| 2015 | John Higgins and Marc Olivent | Dark Satanic Mills | Walker Books | Marcus Sedgwick and Julian Sedgwick | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Catherine Rayner | Smelly Louie | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Chris Riddell | Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2015 | David Roberts | Tinder | Orion Books | Sally Gardner | Shortlist |
| 2015 | Shaun Tan | Rules of Summer | Lothian Publishing | — | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Chris Riddell | The Sleeper and the Spindle | Bloomsbury | Neil Gaiman | Winner |
| 2016 | Ross Collins | There's a Bear on My Chair | Nosy Crow | — | Shortlist and Amnesty CILIP Honoree |
| 2016 | Anthony Browne | Willy's Stories | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Oliver Jeffers | Once Upon an Alphabet | HarperCollins | — | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Jon Klassen | Sam & Dave Dig a Hole | Walker Books | Mac Barnett | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Jackie Morris | Something About a Bear | Frances Lincoln | — | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Helen Oxenbury | Captain Jack and the Pirates | Puffin Books | Peter Bently | Shortlist |
| 2016 | Sydney Smith | Footpath Flowers | Walker Books | JonArno Lawson | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Lane Smith | There is a Tribe of Kids | Two Hoots | — | Winner |
| 2017 | Francesca Sanna | The Journey | Flying Eye Books | — | Shortlist and Amnesty CILIP Honoree |
| 2017 | Dieter Braun | Wild Animals of the North | Flying Eye Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Emily Gravett | Tidy | Two Hoots | — | Shortlist |
| 2017 | William Grill | The Wolves of Currumpaw | Flying Eye Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Jim Kay | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Bloomsbury | J. K. Rowling | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Chris Riddell | A Great Big Cuddle | Walker Books | Michael Rosen | Shortlist |
| 2017 | Brian Selznick | The Marvels | Scholastic | — | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Sydney Smith | Town is by the Sea | Walker Books | Joanne Schwartz | Winner |
| 2018 | Levi Pinfold | The Song from Somewhere Else | Bloomsbury | A.F. Harrold | Shortlist and Amnesty CILIP Honoree |
| 2018 | Laura Carlin | King of the Sky | Walker Books | Nicola Davies | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Debi Gliori | Night Shift | Hot Key Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Petr Horáček | A First Book of Animals | Walker Books | Nicola Davies | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Pam Smy | Thornhill | David Fickling Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Britta Teckentrup | Under the Same Sky | Little Tiger | — | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Jackie Morris | The Lost Words | Hamish Hamilton | Robert Macfarlane | Winner & Shadowers' Choice Award |
| 2019 | Jon Klassen | The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse | Walker Books | Mac Barnett | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Rebecca Cobb | The Day War Came | Walker Books | Nicola Davies | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Eric Fan and Terry Fan | Ocean Meets Sky | Frances Lincoln | — | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Maria Gulemetova | Beyond the Fence | Child's Play | — | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Jessica Love | Julian is a Mermaid | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Poonam Mistry | You're Safe With Me | Lantana Publishing | Chitra Soundar | Shortlist |
| 2019 | David Roberts | Suffragette: The Battle for Equality | Two Hoots | | Shortlist |

### 2020s

In 2020, Australian artist Shaun Tan became first BAME author to win the Greenaway Medal in its 64-year history.
In 2022, Long Way Down by Danica Novgorodoff became the first graphic novel to win the medal since Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas in 1973. The 2023 medal also went to a graphic novel. In that year there were only six shortlisted nominees as opposed to the usual slate of eight.
Colour key:
    – Medal Winner
    – Shadowers' Choice Award winner if different from Medal winner
Medal winners and Shortlists, 2020- :
| Year | Illustrator | Title | Publisher | Author (if different) | Result |
| 2020 | Shaun Tan | Tales from the Inner City | Walker Books | — | Winner |
| 2020 | Kadir Nelson | The Undefeated | Andersen Press | Kwame Alexander | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award |
| 2020 | Poonam Mistry | You're Snug with Me | Lantana Publishing | Chitra Soundar | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Chris Mould | The Iron Man | Faber & Faber | Ted Hughes | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Chris Naylor-Ballesteros | The Suitcase | Nosy Crow | — | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Levi Pinfold | The Dam | Walker Books | David Almond | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Júlia Sardà | Mary and Frankenstein | Andersen Press | Linda Bailey | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Beth Waters | Child of St Kilda | Child's Play | — | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Sydney Smith | Small in the City | Walker Books | — | Winner |
| 2021 | Sharon King-Chai | Starbird | Two Hoots | — | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award |
| 2021 | Sara Lundberg | The Bird Within Me | Book Island | — (translated by B. J. Epstein) | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Kate Milner | It's a No-Money Day | Barrington Stoke | — | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Poonam Mistry | How The Stars Came To Be | Tate Publishing | — | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Pete Oswald | Hike | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2021 | David Ouimet | I Go Quiet | Canongate | — | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Catherine Rayner | Arlo The Lion Who Couldn't Sleep | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Danica Novgorodoff | Long Way Down | Faber & Faber | Jason Reynolds | Winner |
| 2022 | Mariachiara Di Giorgio | The Midnight Fair | Walker Books | Gideon Sterer | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award |
| 2022 | George Butler | Drawn Across Borders | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Emily Gravett | Too Much Stuff | Pan Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Christian Robinson | Milo Imagines the World | Pan Macmillan | Matt de la Peña | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Yu Rong | Shu Lin's Grandpa | Otter-Barry Books | Matt Goodfellow | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Sydney Smith | I Talk Like a River | Walker Books | Jordan Scott | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Peter Van den Ende | The Wanderer | Pushkin Children's Books | — (no text) | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Jeet Zdung | Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear | Kingfisher | Trang Nguyen | Winner |
| 2023 | Joe Todd-Stanton | The Comet | Flying Eye Books | — | Shortlist & Shadowers' Choice Award |
| 2023 | Flora Delargy | Rescuing Titanic | Wide Eyed Editions | — | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Benjamin Phillips | Alte Zachen: Old Things | Cicada | Ziggy Hanaor | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Levi Pinfold | The Worlds We Leave Behind | Bloomsbury Children's Books | A.F. Harrold | Shortlist |
| 2023 | Yu Rong | The Visible Sounds | UCLan | Jianling Yin | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Aaron Becker | The Tree and the River | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Catalina Echeverri | April's Garden | Graffeg | Isla McGuckin | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Mariajo Ilustrajo | Lost | Quarto | — | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Steve McCarthy | The Wilderness | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Erika Meza | To the Other Side | Hachette | — | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Poonam Mistry | The Midnight Panther | Bonnier | — | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Catherine Rayner | The Bowerbird | Macmillan | Julia Donaldson | Shortlist |
| 2024 | Chloe Savage | The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish | Walker Books | — | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Wen Hsu Chen | The Invisible Story | Lantana | Jaime Gamboa, trans. by Daniel Hahn | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Lauren Child | Grey | Walker | Laura Dockrill | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Mariajo Ilustrajo | I Love Books | Frances Lincoln | — | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Olivia Lomenech Gill | Clever Crow | Walker | Chris Butterworth | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Juan Palomino | Letters in Charcoal | Lantana | Irene Vasco, trans. by Lawrence Schimel | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Theo Parish | Homebody | Macmillan | — | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Kate Rolfe | Wolf and Bear | Too Hoots | — | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Yu Rong | Flying High | UCLan | Cao Wenxuan, trans. by Simone Monnelly | Shortlist |