Literary Awards

National Awards

The Children’s Book Council (CBC) Award honors outstanding literary works published during the previous year, nominated by CBC Reviewing Groups (RG). The Awards are CBC Bronze Plaque and Specially Commended Diplomas.

CBC Bronze Plaque

CBC Bronze Plaque is given for a book to an author, translator, poet, illustrator and publisher. It can also be presented for lasting contributions and distinguished services to children’s literature.

Specially Commended Diplomas

The Specially Commended Diploma acknowledges annually outstanding literary works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and illustration for children whether written in Persian or translated, as well as those publishers who have played a significant role in the promotion of children’s literature in Iran.

The idea of presenting awards to books for children and young adults was first discussed in 1963 within the pertinent working groups of CBC. Between 1964 and 1969, nominating the Book of the Year from all the published works was put on the working agenda of the Reviewing Groups. The purpose of nominating the Book of the Year was to encourage Iranian authors, translators, illustrators and publishers to move towards quality works.

In 1969, the Book of the Year was classified into three groups according to its literary merits: Specifically Notable Books, Selected Books and Recommended Books. As a result, in 1971, the Commemoration Bronze Plaque was presented to all authors and translators whose works were recognized as Selected Books since the beginning of the work of CBC. This Bronze Plaque was designed and executed by the late artist Asqar Mohammadi and Mr. Siavash Arjoumand helped the CBC with the expenses of the handcraft work. In 1974, Mr. Abbas Yammini Sharif presented CBC with one hundred thousand Rials annually for the nominated CBC Books of the Year. Out of this one hundred thousands Rials, 40 thousand rials was given to an author and illustrator each and 20 thousand Rials to a hand-written manuscript. In the years between 1980 and 1982, in order to encourage juvenile authors to create literary works of high artistic quality, Samad Behgrangi Award was introduced which consisted of 5 Medals plus 5 cash prizes worth of 5 thousands Rials each presented to 4 published works and one manuscript written by children or young adults. In 1985, in addition to nominating the Selected Books and presenting the cash prize as well as the plaque, works were also chosen as Specifically Notable Books awarding them with Specially Commended Diplomas. The CBC Specially Commended Diplomas were first designed and executed by Mr. Feridoun Jahanshahi. In 2002 new diplomas were designed and executed by Ms. Sholeh Mahlujy.

Since 1986, CBC Diplomas were also given to adults’ manuscripts.

From 1991 to date, to recognize long service to children’s literature and commend the prominent figures in this field, the CBC Bronze Plaque was presented to those who have made significant and lasting contribution to the Iranian children’s literature.

Each year award winners are introduced in the CBC Quarterly Bulletin, providing descriptive account of the children and young adults’ literature in Iran along with annotated bibliographies of recommended books.

The Awards are presented at the Anniversary of CBC to the recipients.

International Awards

The international Awards consist of Hans Christian Awards and IBBY Honor List Diplomas both being awarded by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), in even-numbered years to authors, illustrators and translators to encourage and support the creation of the children’s literature worldwide.

Hans Christian Andersen Awards (HCA)

CBC became a member of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in 1964, cooperating fully with the IBBY. As the IBBY National Section of Iran, one of the main responsibilities of CBC is to make a selection and submit an Iranian author and/or illustrator as candidates for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards and to select an Iranian author, illustrator and translator for the IBBY Honor List.

Every other year IBBY presents the Hans Christian Andersen Awards to an author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. The Author’s Award has been given since 1956 and expanded in 1966 to include illustrators as well. The Award consists of a gold medal and a diploma, presented at the IBBY Congresses. The announcement is made at the Bologna International Book Fair

HCA nominations are made by the National Sections of IBBY and the recipients are selected by a distinguished jury of children’s literature specialists. In the year 2000 the IBBY General Assembly voted to increase the number of jurors to ten and to split the 2002 jury into two areas of expertise: five jurors for writing and five for illustration. Through past years, from Iran, Mrs. Touran Mirhadi experienced four periods of the jury (1976, 1978, 1986, 1988), Mrs. Sorayah Ghazelayagh was a jury member in 1992, Mrs. Mansourah Rai served as a jury member for two periods (1998, 2000) and in 2002 and 2004 Zohreh Ghaeni was member of the illustration jury. To date, four Iranian illustrators and authors have become nominated for the Hans Christian Awards. Mr. Farshid Mesghali (illustration/1974), Mr. Houshang MoradiKermani (writing/1992), Mr. MohammadReza Yousefi (writing/2000) and Mrs. Nasrin Khosravi (illustration/2002). Of these, only Mr. Farshid Mesghali won the 1974 Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration and Mr.Houshang MoradiKermani was specially commended by Andersen Jury.

IBBY Honour List

The IBBY Honour List is a biennial selection of outstanding, recently published books, honouring writers, illustrators and translators from IBBY member countries. The IBBY Honour List is one of the most widespread and effective ways of furthering IBBY’s objective of encouraging international understanding through children’s literature. The titles are selected by the National Sections, nominating one book for each of the three categories.
Since 1974, CBC has selected books for writing and illustration and from 1978 it has started selecting books in the translation category, as well. From 1974 to 2004, 38 books were nominated from Iran and the Honour list diplomas of the recipients were presented to the creators either at IBBY Congresses or by CBC in Tehran.