THE 59 TH BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR - 21-24 MARCH 2022, BOLOGNARAGAZZI AWARD
on Feb 23, 2022
THE 59 TH BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR - 21-24 MARCH 2022
BOLOGNARAGAZZI AWARD
Winners and special mentions of the 2022 edition
Major features of the 2022 edition were: Inter-generational caring relationships; debate around language and the quest for even better graphic design. With a sharp increase in submissions, enabling an even broader overview of children’s publishing across the world, the BOLOGNARAGAZZI awards received 2215 titles from 62 countries and regions.
2215 books from 62 countries and regions of the world were submitted for the 2022 edition of the BolognaRagazzi Award - BRAW. An increase of 630 year-on-year and 365 compared to 2020, the last pre-Covid edition of the Award. These numbers confirm BCBF’s scouting skills and its ability to seek out new publishers, new authors, illustrators and creative talent, reaching out to new areas and broadening its contacts around the world.
The number of countries and regions also increased: 20 new countries joined the previous 42, surely an indication of how the difficulties caused by the pandemic have spurred the sector to become even more dynamic. New countries include Denmark, Hong Kong (with no fewer than five publishers), Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, and a whole new continent, Africa, coming to Bologna for the first time with publishers from three countries: South Africa, Mozambique and Egypt.
Adjudicated by an independent international Jury, the Bologna Award comprises the traditional Fiction, Non-Fiction, Opera Prima (debut author) categories, but also Comics, and a special category, once again dedicated to Poetry - a tribute to the impressive array of children's poetry recently being produced by the publishing industry around the world. Fiction once again had the largest number of entries – over 1200 – but also Opera Prima saw a surge in entries: over 150 titles. Completing the round-up is BRAW’s New Horizons, a special prize the Jury is free to award for strikingly innovative works.
As it has done every year for over fifty years, BCBF's historic awards acknowledge the world’s best recently published works for children and young adults in terms of excellence of graphic design; innovative impact and ability to speak to young readers. Thanks to the prestige it has gained over the years, the BolognaRagazzi Award is not only closely followed by sector professionals, but also offers unique international business and copyright trading opportunities. Once again, the Award has signposted trending themes and future developments.
Within the even wider selection of titles, 2022 submissions witnessed new and eclectic trends emerging, with the Covid-19 pandemic as an underlying theme running throughout. These themes including children as both individuals and groups, notably often in outdoor settings, prompted reflection around inter-generational caring relationships; death; suffering and sadness. Additionally, our link with the past and our consequent responsibility towards the environment. Language was a major focus of Non-Fiction. The excellence of graphic design and illustrations used to convey the essence of language reached new heights. Many examples from different cultures explored language through anagrams, palindromes and plays on meaning. Similar trends were seen in the various literary genres. Comic book production, already a rising phenomenon in recent years, continues to grow and was seen to be increasingly aimed at young readers. Stylistic horizons are being pushed back to combine two different traditions: the comic and the picturebook. The trend is often led by publishers new to comic book production eager to experiment with freer styles and narrative approach. Poetry too, reconfirmed its rising importance as a genre. BRAW’s special category award also in 2021, Poetry received even more candidates this year, including submissions from new countries like Iceland. Entirely new poetry series have been created targeting new readers and offering works from different languages.
The International Juries, made up as always of international sector experts, met up in Bologna for a two-day full-immersion session. Laid out on long tables and divided into various sections, the books were perused, read, discussed and assessed. This year's jurors were:
For the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Work and New Horizons Award categories: Olivia Ahmad, British curator and editor, graphic arts and design specialist and artistic director at London’s House of Illustration (UK); Antonio Alessandro Di Cicco, graphic designer, co-founder of hund, a graphic and digital design team (Italy); Magalí Homs Ros, designer specialized in ephemeral and audio-visual architecture, director of Tantagora, a training centre and creative space producing, disseminating and promoting literature (Spain); Yuliia Kozlovets, general coordinator of the International Book Arsenal Festival in Kiev (Ukraine); Alessandra Starace, manager of the historic Libreria delle Ragazze e dei Ragazzi in Milan and Brescia (Italy).
For the Comics category: Sonia Déchamps, co- artistic director of the International Comics Festival of Angoulême (France); Paul Gravett, co-founder of Escape magazine and the Comica Festival, a London-based writer, editor, critic and lecturer specializing in international comics (UK); David Schilter, co-founder of kuš!, a comic book publisher based in Riga (Latvia); Alberto Sebastiani, researcher, publicist and lecturer at the University of Bologna and IULM, writer for La Repubblica and Treccani.it on linguistics, literature and comics (Italy).
For the Poetry category: Chiara Basile, founder of the bookshop Lèggere Leggére and organizer of the Junior Poetry Festival (Italy); Denis Beznosov, poet, literary critic, translator and deputy director of the Russian State Children's Library (Russia); Mateja Bizjak-Petit, poet, translator and director, since 2011 head of the Centre de Créations pour l'Enfance - House of Poetry (France); Caterina Ramonda, author, translator, expert in paper and digital publishing for children (Italy); Morag Styles, former professor of children's poetry at Cambridge University, and Emeritus Fellow of Homerton College (United Kingdom).
THE AMAZING BRAW BOOKSHELF EXHIBITION
For the very first time, alongside the traditional exhibition of the winners and special mentions, Bologna Children's Book Fair will also dedicate a display of the works that came close to being selected for the BolognaRagazzi Award. The Exhibition will put the spotlight on the many deserving candidates from all over the world: 100 titles selected from the finalists in the various categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Opera Prima, Comics, Poetry). The books on display can be handled, browsed through, and read by the fair’s professional public. It is an unprecedented opportunity to take a deeper look into the prestigious award and get a fascinating overview of the best in recent publishing around the world.
Here are the winners and special mentions:
FICTION
WINNER
À qui appartiennent les nuages?
Text by Mario Brassard
Illustrations by Gérard DuBois
Les Éditions de la Pastèque, Canada, 2021
SPECIAL MENTIONS
¿Qué tiene un bosque?
Text and illustrations by Yael Frankel
Claraboya Ediciones, Chile, 2021
Summer
Text and illustrations by Suzy Lee
BIR Publishing Co., Ltd., South Korea, 2021
Fechamos
Text by Gilles Baum
Illustrations by Régis Lejonc
Les Éditions des Éléphants, France, 2020
NON-FICTION
WINNER
Monstres Sacrés: Voyage au cœur des volcans
Text by Julie Roberge
Illustrations by Aless MC
Les Éditions de la Pastèque, Canada, 2021
SPECIAL MENTIONS
Para que serve?
Text by José Maria Vieira Mendes
Illustrations by Madalena Matoso
Planeta Tangerina, Portugal, 2020
Des trucs comme ci, des trucs comme ça
Text and illustrations by Bernadette Gervais
Éditions des Grandes Personnes, France, 2021
Father’s big hands
Text and illustrations by Choi Deok-Kyu
YUN Edition, South Korea, 2020
OPERA PRIMA
WINNER
Les Reflets d’Hariett
Text and illustrations by Marion Kadi
L’Agrume, France, 2021
SPECIAL MENTIONS
Det var en gång och blir så mycket mer
Text and illustrations by Johanna Schaible
Piratförlaget, Sweden, 2021
Fluidoteca
Text and illustrations by Berta Páramo
Litera libros, Spain, 2021
COMICS
Text and art by Éponine Cottey
Éditions 2024, France, 2021
EARLY READER - SPECIAL MENTION
Hvem rumpet brunosten?
Text by Erlend Loe
Art by Kim Hiorthøy
Cappelen Damm, Norway, 2021
MIDDLE GRADE - WINNER
Teatro di natura
Text and art by Michelangelo Setola
Canicola Associazione culturale, Italy, 2021
MIDDLE GRADE - SPECIAL MENTION
Nowhere girl
Text and art by Magali Le Huche
Dargaud, France, 2021
YOUNG ADULT - WINNER
Polly
Text by Isabelle Pralong
Art by Fabrice Melquiot
Éditions La Joie de lire, Switzerland, 2021
YOUNG ADULT - SPECIAL MENTION
Le grand vide
Text and art by Léa Murawiec
Éditions 2024, France, 2021
POETRY
WINNER
Immenses sont leurs ailes
Text by Maurielle Szac
Illustrations by Nathalie Novi
Éditions Bruno Doucey, France, 2021
SPECIAL MENTIONS
Corazón de pájaro
Text by Mar Benegas
Illustrations by Rachel Caiano
AKIARA books, Spain, 2020
Sagan um Skarphéðin Dungal sem setti fram nýjar kenningar um eðli alheimsins
Text by Hjörleifur Hjartarson
Illustrations by Rán Flygenring
Angústúra, Iceland, 2018
Vom Flaniern und Weltspaziern
Texts by Elisabeth Steinkellner
Illustrations by Michael Roher
Tyrolia-Verlag, Austria, 2018
Collection “Les Poèmes”: Ici ou là et ailleurs aussi; Bois profonds; Pierre d’un jour; Poèmes en peluches; Macadam, courir les rues; Poèmes par-dessus les toits; Thoulathiyat, haïkus arabes; Terrains vagues; BUS 83; Les chaises Vv.Aa (Mo Abbas, Gaëlle Allart, Edith Azam, Ramona Bǎdescu, Gabriella Corcione, Gaëtan Dorémus, Odile Fix, Jérémie Fischer, Raphaële Frier, Bernard Friot, Benoît Guillaume, Géraldine Hérédia, Amélie Jackowski, Julien Martinière, Pierre Soletti, Clothilde Staës, Walid Taher, Christian Tortel)
Le port a jauni, France, 2018–2021
NEW HORIZONS
Laimes bērni
Text by Luīze Pastore
Illustrations by Evija Pintāne
Liels un mazs, Latvia, 2021
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