EMILY GRAVETT WINS 2005 CILIP KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL FOR HER FIRST PICTURE BOOK

Newcomer Emily Gravett has scooped the 2005 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK's oldest and most prestigious award for children's book illustration for her first book, Wolves.

Emily, a former traveller who spent eight years on the road after leaving school at 16 with almost no formal qualifications, graduated from Brighton University's Illustration degree course just two years ago in 2004. Her career as a picture book illustrator took off immediately when she won the 2004 Macmillan Prize for Illustration for Wolves and a publishing deal followed. The book has already been widely acclaimed both in the UK, and internationally, with rights sold in five countries.

In Wolves (a book which follows the National Carroticulum) a naive rabbit visits West Bucks library and "burrows" a book about wolves. By the time he discovers that wolves are not the creatures of fairy tales whose favourite food is small girls in red hoods, it is too late. And soon, an overdue notice from the library is plopping onto the doormat at Lane's End Burrow in Nibbleswick, to lie with a lot of other unread mail. Removable letters and tickets add to the fun, and the book is packed with visual jokes.

Teresa Scragg, Chair of the CILIP Kate Greenaway judging panel comments: "The attention to detail throughout "Wolves" is astonishing. Every millimetre is perfect. It was obviously created with great love as well as talent, and the result is a book which works on many levels, and which can be enjoyed again and again. For a first picture book it shows an extraordinary maturity and assurance in its handling of different techniques. And it's about a library book which just makes us all the more fond of it - though it didn't influence our decision!"..

Emily Gravett was born in 1972 in Brighton. She left school with few qualifications and spent 8 years living on the road (in a variety of vehicles including a truck, a caravan and an RAF petrol bus called Toby Diesel) before returning to Brighton and going to university there. She still lives in Brighton with her 9 year-old daughter Oleander and partner Mik. Emily's delightful second book, Orange Pear Apple Bear came out in March 2006, and her third, Meerkat Mail will be published in August.

The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, established in 1956 and named in honour of the distinguished illustrator is awarded for "outstanding illustration in a children's book". Sister award to the CILIP Carnegie Medal, it is judged by an expert panel of children's librarians from the Youth Libraries Group (YLG), and follows the same unique process of nomination, and judging. Since the bequest left in 2000 by children's book and illustration collector, Colin Mears, the winner receives a cheque for £5,000 in addition to the coveted medal. Distinguished former winners of the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, which celebrates its 50^th birthday in 2007, include Shirley Hughes, Raymond Briggs and Quentin Blake.

The shortlist for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2005 was:

TONY DiTERLIZZI
(Text by Holly Black)
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You
Simon & Schuster

EMILY GRAVETT
Wolves
Macmillan  

MINI GREY
Traction Man is Here
Red Fox

OLIVER JEFFERS
Lost and Found
HarperCollins

DAVE McKEAN
(Text by Neil Gaiman)
Mirrormask
Bloomsbury 

JANE RAY
(Text by Berlie Doherty)
Jinnie Ghost
Frances Lincoln

DAVID ROBERTS
(Text by Lynn Roberts) 
Little Red: A Fizzingly Good Yarn
Chrysalis

ROB SCOTTON
Russell the Sheep
HarperCollins

-Ends-

7 July 2006