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The annual process for choosing prize winners

The recipients of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award are chosen by a jury with extensive knowledge of international children’s and youth literature, promoting reading and children’s rights.

Illustration by Fibben Hald

The twelve-member jury comprises literature experts, authors, illustrators, librarians and critics. One of the members represents Astrid Lindgren’s family.

Jury members are appointed for a four-year period by the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs. Each member can sit on the jury for up to twelve years, providing the continuity and integrity necessary for jury work.

Jury calls for nominations

To give a global overview, the jury invites organisations from around the world to nominate candidates. Nominating bodies must have good knowledge of authors, illustrators, storytellers and initiatives to promote reading in their countries or regions. The jury itself can also make its own nominations. Neither groups nor individuals may nominate themselves.

Hard work selecting winner

Every year the jury goes through hundreds of nominations. The jury verifies, reads and discusses the nominations, which represent the highest artistic quality from around the world. In March, it publicly announces the prize winner in Astrid Lindgren’s childhood town of Vimmerby, Sweden.

Jury member Janne Lundström says the prize is important because it puts children’s literature in the spotlight:

“But it also focuses attention on children because it is in remembrance of Astrid Lindgren. She always put children first and we are going to work in that spirit.”