Australian illustrator Freya Blackwood has been announced as the winner of the 2010 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, one of the world's premier awards for illustration.
Blackwood won the award for her illustrations to Margaret Wild's Harry & Hopper, published by Scholastic.
Margaret Pemberton, chair of the judging panel, said: 'In Harry & Hopper, Freya Blackwood excels in her use of muted colour, perspective, and exterior and interior space to give a powerful take on the father-son relationship, and a much-loved pet's death. A sensitive issue for young children is beautifully handled, with Harry's emotions and memories of Hopper expressed visually to great effect.'
The companion award to the Greenaway, the Carnegia Medal, has gone to Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book (Bloomsbury).
For more details, see http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/2010awards/