Guus Kuijer. Award Laureate 2012 1
PREVIOUS AWARD RECIPIENTS 2011 Shaun Tan, Illustr
ator and author, Australia Shaun Tan is a masterly visual storyteller, pointing the way ahead to new possibilities for picture books. His pictorial worlds constitute a separate universe where nothing is self-evident and anything is possible. 2010 Kitty Crowther, Illustrator and author, Belgium Kitty Crowther is the master of line but also of atmosphere. She maintains the tradition of the picture book while transforming and renewing it. In her world, the door between imagination and reality is wide open. 2009 Tamer Institute for Community Education, Promoters of reading, Palestinian Territories Under difficult circumstances, the Institute carries out reading promotion of an unusual breadth and versatility. 2008 Sonya Hartnett, Author, Australia With psychological depth and a concealed yet palpable anger, she depicts the circumstances of young people without avoiding the darker sides of life. 2007 Banco del Libro, Promoters of reading, Venezuela In a true pioneering spirit, with ingenuity and a sheer determination, the Banco del Libro has constantly sought new ways of disseminating books and promoting reading. 2006 Katherine Paterson, Author, USA A brilliant psychologist who gets right under the skin of the vulnerable young people she creates, whether in historical or exotic settings, or in the grim reality of the USA today. 2005 Philip Pullman, Author, Great Britain Through his strong characters he stands firmly on the side of young people, ruthlessly questioning authority and proclaiming humanism and the power of love whilst maintaining an optimistic belief in the child even in the darkest of situations. 2005 Ryôji Arai, Illustrator, Japan His picturebooks glow with warmth, playful good humour and an audacious spontaneity that appeals to children and adults alike. 2004 Lygia Bojunga, Author, Brazil In a deeply original way she fuses playfulness, poetic beauty and absurd humour with social critique, a love of freedom and a strong empathy with the vulnerable child. 2003 Christine Nöstlinger, Author, Austria Her diversified and highly committed authorship is characterized by disrespectful humour, clear-sighted solemnity and inconspicuous warmth. 2003 Maurice Sendak, Illustrator and author, USA He is unparalleled in developing the picture-book’s unique possibilities of and furthermore, he is one of the most courageous researchers of the most secret recesses of childhood – to the delight of constant new readers.