The following and table (5) give an overview of all National Section nominations for the IBBY awards or honours. The table includes those countries that did not submit their individual biennial reports, but nonetheless made nominations during the reporting period. The reporting NS are distinguished by an asterisk (*).
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are presented biennially to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important contribution to children’s literature. This is the highest international distinction given to an author and an illustrator of children’s books. They are acknowledged as the most widely known of IBBY’s activities. Between 1992 and 2008 Awards have been sponsored by the Nissan Motor Co., Japan.
In 2006, the winners were author Margaret Mahy from New Zealand, and illustrator Wolf Erlbruch from Germany. In 2008, they were author Jürg Schubiger from Switzerland, and illustrator Roberto Innocenti from Italy.
The main reason that many NS did not participate in the Andersen Awards during the reporting period is the high cost of preparing the nominations. The unlikelihood of winning the award, scarce translation of literary works into other languages, low level of literature, the relative immaturity of their country’s book industry, publication restrictions are some other reasons for their omission.
(Full details of the winners and nominees can be found in the special issues of Bookbird: volume 44, issue 4, 2006; and volume 46, issues 2 and 4, 2008, and at www.ibby.org)
