Six winners are named in the 2024 edition of the Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year.
On Monday night here at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the honors most hoped for by publishers were announced: the Bologna Prizes for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year.
This set of awards was created about a decade ago in cooperation with the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori) and is handed out in six geographically defined regions of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, The Caribbean, Central and South America and Oceania. In an interesting feature, the jury for this award is the world’s publishers. The period for registering votes ended on March 20. And on Monday, the winner from each geographical shortlist (listed below) was announced:
Bologna Prize: Best Children’s Publishers of the Year
2024 Winners:
Africa
The 2024 African winner is Yanbow Al Kitab, from Morocco: Yanbow Al Kitab is a Moroccan children’s publishing house founded in 2006 by Amina Hachimi Alaoui. It publishes books with a Moroccan/Arabic cultural focus in French, Arabic and English. After co-founding Le Carrefour des Livres bookshop in Casablanca’s Maarif district with Marie-Louise Belarbi in 1984, and Morocco’s first specialist art bookshop.
Asia
Poplar Publishing Co., Ltd., from Japan, wins the prize for Asia. This leading independent publisher of children’s books has been in business for more than 70 years. As it started as a children’s books publisher, it has always tried to provide children with enjoyable and exciting books. Today, the company’s goals remain unchanged: everything it publishes should be enjoyable and enrich people’s lives.
Europe
For Europe, the winner is the Spanish Mosquito Books Barcelona, a small publishing house specialising in non-fiction picture books. It introduces itself by saying: “All production is our own. Our obsession is to discover talent and make it known to the world. Our goal is to spread knowledge through beauty. Our first book was published in 2016, and to date we publish 20 titles a year, with co-editions in more than 10 languages. We take our creativity to more than 30 countries.”
North America
The North American winner is Canadian Greystone Kids, from Greystone Books, a leading independent publisher of books about nature, science, health, and social issues, with a commitment in reducing environmental footprint in their production and supply chain. Founded in Vancouver in 1993 and named after the grey stone commonly used in heritage architecture in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, it publishes books that show readers how we can respect, protect, and care for the species we share this planet with. Greystone Kids launched in 2019.
Caribbean and Latin America
In Central and South America and Caribbean, Cataplum Libros (Colombia) wins the BOP. To create good books, Cataplum digs in the collective memory and explores the roots that connect Latin Americans; it recovers the oral tradition, the game and its diverse and inexhaustible possibilities; it looks for texts by authors of yesterday and today; it tracks down illustrators with new proposals and makes the effort to see how text and image can coexist harmoniously. Its catalogue, it says, is conceived as a living creature: “Good books are like tame animals that wake up when we caress their backs and show us their bellies to invite us to play, but do not hesitate to give us a good bite to get us out of the clutches of everyday life”.
Oceania
For Oceania, the winner is Huia Publishers, from New Zealand. Huia Publishers is a Māori owned, independent publisher producing innovative and inspiring books and resources. “Since 1991” they say “our purpose has been simple and uncompromising – we share stories that resonate with our people, that reflect our experiences and that value our culture and language.”
For additional reading: 2024-best-childrens-publishers-of-the-year
Photo: BCBF/Publishing Perspectives
