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