Michael Rosen and Sarah Crossan are the joint winners of the CLiPPA children’s poetry award for 2016 – the first time that two poets have been crowned together in the prize’s history.
Former children’s laureate, poet, performer and broadcaster Rosen wins for his collection A Great Big Cuddle, a book of poetry for small children illustrated by Chris Riddell. In May, Rosen told the Guardian: “This book means a lot to me – it’s a collection of views of life as seen from a toddler’s angle so it was a way of looking back at the last toddler I was helping to bring up.”
Rosen is joined by author and previous CLiPPA-shortlisted poet Crossan for her verse novel, One which tells the story of conjoined twins Tippi and Grace. The novel also took this year’s Carnegie, the Irish children’s book of the year award and the YA book prize.
John Hegley, poet and chair of the CLiPPA 2016 judges, praised the winning books: “The five shortlisted titles are an exemplary spread of what poetry can be. The winning poets both have their very different inspirations so meticulously architected on the page. As one of the judging panel remarked, together the books proclaim: ‘it doesn’t matter if you’re three or 16, poetry is for you!’”
Run by the Centre for Literacy in primary education, the annual poetry award is the only one of its kind in the UK, encouraging and celebrating outstanding poetry published for children.
The winner was announced at London’s National Theatre on Wednesday, with children’s laureate Riddell live-drawing the whole event from the stage.
