Winners of the Carnegie Medals in Writing and Illustration are titles from the program’s Shadowers’ Choice and longlisted winners, which turned many heads this year with its inclusion of nine (of 25 longlistees) that dealt with youth and masculinity. Image: Carnegie Medals
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘The Glasgow Boys’ and ‘King of Nothing’ Win
As you may recall, the arrival in March of the longlist Carnegie Medals was unusually impressive for the fact that the juries had produced longlists, then shortlists, of books for young readers with an unusual number dealing with themes of youthful masculinity.
This venerable program—carefully watched by so many for good work each year for younger readers—in February announced that nine of its 35 longlisted titles were themed on masculinity.
At a time when in so many world markets many boys and young men are struggling in social, educational, and vocational development, this was and still is heartening news, helping to point up the potential of publishing to provide supportive and impactful literature, as the business has often done so well for girls and young women.
Today (June 19), it was announced that two of those books with thematic relevance to the crises that boys and men face have been named winners. The 2025 Carnegies were announced to an audience of more than 600 young people at a live-streamed ceremony set at London’s Cambridge Theater.
The 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing and Shadowers’ Choice
Perhaps the biggest news is that the author of Glasgow Boys (Faber & Faber), a debut from writer Margaret McDonald, is the winner of the coveted Carnegie Medal for Writing. McDonald, aged 27, in fact, is the youngest to win this honor in the medal’s nearly 100 years.
Her novel is being called “life changing and emotional” for its “honest” and “hopeful” story that explores mental health, trauma, inequality, and identity through the friendship between two boys who have grown up in foster care.
As Faber’s editors describe it, Glasgow Boys explores “the power of identity, community, and the Scottish working class. This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope.”
Ros Harding, who led the jury for the 2025 prize cycle, says, “Glasgow Boys is an immersive and visceral read that completely draws the reader into the present and past lives of Finlay and Banjo. It’s a book that will stay in the minds of the reader long after finishing it.” Jurors describe the setting as “very well realized and explored” and “a real reflection of how our world is”.
The writer, Scotland’s Margaret McDonald, who formerly worked for the National Health Service (NHS), also holds a Masters in English literature with distinction from Glasgow University, having taken a BA first class studying writing from Strathclyde University.
McDonald will be donating her prize money to Action for Children, one of the UK’s leading children’s charities.
The second of the winning books relative to masculinities is Nathanael Lessore’s King of Nothing (Bonnier Books UK), a comedic take in which a self-proclaimed “bad boy” forges a friendship that makes him reassess his priorities.
In this case, the win has the benefit of coming from the readers: This is a “Shadowers’ Choice” selected by “thousands of reading groups in schools and libraries in the United Kingdom and around the world, with young people ‘shadowing’ the judging process, debating, and choosing their own winners from this year’s shortlist.”
The Carnegies’ organizers describe King of Nothing as “a YA novel about a bully whose new friendship with an unpopular classmate proves a catalyst for change, exploring young masculinity with warmth, humour and authenticity.” One of the most incisive comments made by a young reader named Nyles was that the book “inspires readers to be honest about who they are and the choices they make.”
The winners of the Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration will each receive a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize. The winners of the Shadowers’ Choice Medals – voted for and awarded by the children and young people – will also receive a golden medal and £500 to donate to a library of their choice, generously provided by the English and Media Centre for the writing winner and by CILIP for the illustration winner.
The Medal for Illustration and Shadowers’ Choice
In addition to the writing medal and the Shadowers’ Choice writing award, the Carnegies also bestow a winning medal in illustration and a Shadowers’ Choice in illustration.
- The winner of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration is Olivia Lomenech Gill for Clever Crow (Walker Books), written by Chris Butterworth. This “innovative” and detailed nonfiction picture book illustrated in “earthy” watercolors, charcoal, gouache, and collage encourages readers to look afresh at a fascinating, but often maligned, bird. (Our quotations are from the program’s organizers.) Artist and illustrator Gill is British was previously shortlisted for the Medal for Illustration for Where My Wellies Take Me, written by Michael and Clare Morpurgo. Lomenech Gill’s interest in birds and the natural world stems from her scientist-father and a childhood enjoyment of studying zoological collections at the Natural History Museum in Oxford.
- The winner of the Shadowers’ Choice Medal for Illustration is Homebody by author-illustrator Theo Parish (Macmillan Children’s Books). Homebody is called an “empowering graphic novel exploring identity, self-discovery, and the importance of living authentically.”
For anyone interested in learning the breadth of new research into the contemporary experiences of boys and men; the depth of the crisis in masculinities in so many world publishing markets; and responses to this crisis, we can recommend the work of the American Institute for Boys and Men, founded by the British-American Brookings Institute fellow and author Richard V. Reeves.
More from Publishing Perspectives on children’s books is here, more on the Carnegie Medals—is here, more from us on publishing and book awards programs is here, and more on the UK market is here.