Patrick Ness wins 2011 Cilip Carnegie Medal

Patrick Ness has won the 2011 CILIP Carnegie Medal for his novel Monsters of Men.

The Carnegie Medal is one of the United Kingdom’s oldest and most prestigious prizes for children’s and young people’s writing. Former winners include Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, Anne Fine, Terry Pratchett, Noel Streatfeild and CS Lewis.

 Ferelith Hordon, chair of the 2011 judging panel says Ness’s Monsters of Men is an “extraordinary achievement”.

“Within its pages, Patrick Ness creates a complex other world, giving himself and the reader great scope to consider big questions about life, love and how we communicate, as well as the horrors of war, and the good and evil that mankind is capable of,” she says.

“It is also an enthralling read that is well nigh impossible to put down. Reviews on the CILIP Carn­egie Medal shadowing site bear out our conviction that despite being part of a remarkable trilogy, this is a novel that both stands alone, and stands out.”

About the book
Monsters of Men is the third and final instalment in Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy which compel­lingly charts the epic power struggles between the inhabitants of a world where all thoughts are audible; and the relationship which develops between Todd and Viola, his young main characters.

The two previous books in the trilogy, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer were also short-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, in 2009 and 2010 respectively, the first time this has been achieved by all books in a series.
 
The CILIP Carnegie Medal and its sister award, the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, are awarded an­nually by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. The 2011 winners were announced at a ceremony at BAFTA, Piccadilly, London at 12 noon on Thursday 23 June.

IMAGE: Patrick Ness from PatrickNess.com