The Nordic Council Children and Young People's Literature Prize is awarded for a work of children's or young adult literature written in one of the languages of the Nordic countries. It was established by the Nordic Council in 2012 after an initiative by ministers of culture in the Nordic countries. The prize was first awarded on 30 October 2013.
Nomination and selection process
In each of the Nordic countries, there is a national adjudication committee which chooses nominations. The committee's members are selected by the Nordic Council of Ministers and each member must be an expert in their country's literature as well as other Nordic literature from other countries. The councils for Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden are made up of two main members and one deputy member, and they must nominate two works each. The council for Finland contains one member and one deputy member for each of the languages Finnish and Swedish, and the council must nominate one work in each language.[2] The Sami, Greenlandic, Faroese, and Ålandic writers' associations may also submit one nomination per year.[1]
The Nordic Adjudication Committee is made up of two ordinary members of each national adjudication committee and selects the winner based on the nominations.[2] The award is given to new fiction written for children and young people that demonstrates good quality fiction and illustrations.[3]
The prize is awarded during the annual autumn session of the Nordic Council. The recipient receives a monetary award, underscoring the significance of the contribution to children’s and young people’s literature.
During the fall session of the Nordic Council, the prize and kr. 300,000 are given to the winner. The Nordic House provides the prize money.[4]
