The world’s largest children’s and youth literature award

Astrid Lindgren is Sweden’s favourite author and one of the world’s most popular. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 94, but her stories will live forever. To honour her memory and promote children’s and youth literature around the world, the Swedish government has founded an international prize in her name: The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
The award, of five million Swedish crowns, is the world’s largest for children’s and youth literature, and the second-largest literature prize in the world.

Facts about the award
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is the world’s largest children’s and youth literature prize. The prize money is five million Swedish crowns.
The international prize will be awarded each year to one or more recipients, regardless of language or nationality.
Authors, illustrators, story-tellers and promoters of reading are eligible. The award is for life-long work or artistry rather than for individual pieces. The prize can only be awarded to living people.
The body of work must uphold the highest artistic quality and evoke the deeply humanistic spirit that Astrid Lindgren treasured.
The purpose of the prize is to strengthen and increase interest in children’s and youth literature around the world. The award also aims to strengthen children’s rights on a global level.
The prize-winner is selected by a jury based on nominations for outstanding achievement from selected nominating bodies around the world. The jury has the right to suggest nominees of their own. Neither individuals nor organisations may nominate themselves.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is administered by the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs.

Read more about the prize here.