21 March 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEIBBY ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE 2022 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN AWARD
Junko Yokota, President of the 2022 IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury announces thewinners of the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award. The Andersen Award is sponsored by Nami
Island Inc. to whom IBBY expresses deep appreciation for its generous support of this prestigious
award.
The 2022 winners are:Marie-Aude Murail from France for Writing and Suzy Lee from the Republic of Korea forIllustration.
The criteria used to assess the nominations included the aesthetic and literary quality as well as
the freshness and innovation of each nominee’s work; the ability to see the child’s point of viewand to stretch their curiosity; and the continuing relevance of the works to children and young
people. The Award is based on the entire body of work.
Sixty-two candidates from 33 countries were nominated for the 2022 IBBY Hans ChristianAndersen Award. The jury reviewed all these nominations of incredibly highly qualified
candidates, carefully and thoroughly assessing each one while maintaining discussions related tothe criteria. The shortlist of six authors and six illustrators was announced in February this year.
2022 Author Winner Marie-Aude Murail
Over 30 years, Murail has written nearly a hundred books for children and young adults. Herdossier notes that in many ways, she embodies the values of IBBY: committed to the cause ofchildren and reading, observing the world seriously, and with humour and caring optimism,opening numerous windows on the major stakes of contemporary society.
2022 Illustrator Winner Suzy Lee
Quoted in her dossier, Lee says that picturebooks are “a joyful form of play, presented in themost refined style that tells the most serious of stories” and describes herself as “someone whoplays together with the readers over a little bowl of stories that come alive through pictures.”
The 2022 Finalists:
Authors:
María Cristina Ramos from Argentina
Fatima Sharafeddine from LebanonPeter Svetina from Slovenia
Annika Thor from Sweden
Margaret Wild from Australia

Beatrice Alemagna from Italy
Ryoji Arai from Japan
Iwona Chmielewska from Poland
Gusti from Argentina
Sydney Smith from Canada

Illustrators:_____________________________________________________________________________
Nonnenweg 12, CH-4055 Basel, Switzerland, liz.page@ibby.org, www.ibby.org

The 2022 Andersen Jury comprised the following members:
Antoine Al Chartouni (Lebanon), Marilar Aleixandre (Spain), Evelyn Arizpe (Mexico/U.K.),
Mariella Bertelli (Canada), Tina Bilban (Slovenia), Viviane Ezratty (France), Jiwone Lee (SouthKorea), Robin Morrow (Australia), Jaana Pesonen (Finland) and Cecilia Repetti (Argentina). Junko
Yokota (USA) led the Jury and Liz Page acted as Jury Secretary.
Profiles of all the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award nominees can be found in the Bookbird
special Andersen issue #59/4 and on the IBBY website: www.ibby.org/andersen-awards-2022

The IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors
and illustrators of children's books. Given every other year by IBBY, the Hans Christian Andersen
Awards recognize lifelong achievement and are given to an author and an illustrator whose
complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature.

About the International Board on Books for Young People – IBBY
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organization, which
represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed tobringing books and children together.
IBBY’s mission is•to promote international understanding through children's books;•to give children everywhere the opportunity to have access to books with high literary
and artistic standards;•to encourage the publication and distribution of quality children's books, especially indeveloping countries;•

to provide support and training for those involved with children and children'sliterature;•

to stimulate research and scholarly works in the field of children's literature;•to protect and uphold the Rights of the Child according to the UN Convention on theRights of the Child.

Contact:
For more information, full biographies of the winners and information about IBBY go towww.ibby.org or write to Executive Director Liz Page at: liz.page@ibby.org