Chair of Judges for The 2026 Carnegies

Be part of history, become Chair of Judges for the 2026 Carnegie Awards

Are you a librarian or library worker who is passionate about children's books and reading? Have you considered becoming Chair of Judges for the UK’s oldest and best-loved children's book awards, celebrating outstanding writing and illustration? Are you passionate about ensuring a quality experience for all judges, helping to ensure many continue to see their time as judging as one of the highlights of their professional career?

CILIP is committed to championing diversity, inclusion and representation within the awards, and particularly welcomes applications from people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, those who identify as LGBTQ+, people with experience of disability and male candidates, who have historically been under-represented on the judging panel.

Experience of working with children and young people and/or a knowledge of children's books is key - as is the capacity to participate fully in judging and the wider award processes.                                           

Candidates should be library workers and must be CILIP members and members of the Youth Libraries Group (YLG.

CILIP believes representation and diversity within children’s books is vital, and that every child should have the opportunity to see themselves and their experiences reflected in the books they read.  We recognise that a representative panel of judges is integral to ensuring a broad range of perspectives, experiences and voices feed into and help to inform the judging process for the country’s oldest children’s book awards. 

The Chair of Judges role has a two year tenure, it will begin in mid 2024 where the Chair of judges will shadow the current Chair and will help recruit, train and team build the judging panel.  In 2025 the Chair will take on the role of Chairing the judging panel for the 2026 cycle (September 2025 to June 2026).

Download the full job description and person specification here.

Benefits of being Chair of Judges

Becoming Chair of Judges for the country’s oldest children’s book awards provides many great opportunities for CPD, including:

• Opportunities to lead a team and to contribute to a prestigious National initiative that forms a key part of the UK’s children’s literature landscape
• Networking with authors, illustrators, publishers and library professionals
• Training and support in assessing outstanding writing and illustration
• Free books delivered to your door.

How to apply

To apply, please submit your CV and a covering letter/email to Carnegies.Executive@cilip.org.uk. answering the following questions...

(1)  What involvement with the Carnegie medals for writing and illustration and their shadowing have you had?

(2) The Chair of Judges position is a unique part of the judging panel in that the role is part of the team and is also responsible for leading the team, tell us about a time when you've been part of a successful team and the qualities you have brought

(3) Please provide us with an example of when you have led a team and the skills you drew upon when doing this.

(4) Discussions can get heated during judging, what strategies have you used to help calm a difficult situation and which do you feel might be useful in a judging scenario?

(5) The Chair of Judges is part of a team responsible for judges' wellbeing.  Please tell us about a time when you've been responsible for the welfare of others and the qualities you drew upon.

(6)  The Carnegie medals recognise outstanding reading experiences through writing and illustration, what elements do you feel make an outstanding reading experience and how would you support judges in recognising these?

Applications are due 6 October 2023

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