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Hans Christian Andersen Award

The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are given by the International Board on Books for Young People every two years to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature". The writing award was first given in 1956, the illustration award in 1966. 

The awards are named after Hans Christian Andersen, the 19th-century Danish author of fairy tales, and each winner receives the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, a gold medal with the head of Andersen, and a diploma. 

Year

Winner

Country

1956

Eleanor Farjeon (for The Little Bookroom)

​ United Kingdom

1958

Astrid Lindgren (for Rasmus på luffen)

​ Sweden

1960

Erich Kästner (for Als ich ein kleiner Junge war)

​ Germany

1962

Meindert DeJong

​ USA

1964

René Guillot

​ France

1966

Tove Jansson

​ Finland

1968

James Krüss

​ Germany

José Maria Sanchez-Silva

​ Spain

1970

Gianni Rodari

​ Italy

1972

Scott O'Dell

​ USA

1974

Maria Gripe

​ Sweden

1976

Cecil Bødker

​ Denmark

1978

Paula Fox

​ USA

1980

Bohumil Říha

​ Czechoslovakia

1982

Lygia Bojunga Nunes

​ Brazil

1984

Christine Nöstlinger

​ Austria

1986

Patricia Wrightson

​ Australia

1988

Annie M. G. Schmidt

​ Netherlands

1990

Tormod Haugen

​ Norway

1992

Virginia Hamilton

​ USA

1994

Michio Mado

​ Japan

1996

Uri Orlev

​ Israel

1998

Katherine Paterson

​ USA

2000

Ana Maria Machado

​ Brazil

2002

Aidan Chambers

​ United Kingdom

2004

Martin Waddell

​ Ireland

2006

Margaret Mahy

​ New Zealand

2008

Jürg Schubiger

​  Switzerland

2010

David Almond

​ United Kingdom

2012

María Teresa Andruetto

​ Argentina

2014

Nahoko Uehashi

​ Japan

2016

Cao Wenxuan

​ China

2018

Eiko Kadono

​ Japan

2020

Jacqueline Woodson

​ USA