The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (Swedish: Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international children's literary award created by the Swedish government in 2002 to honor Astrid Lindgren, a famous Swedish children's author who lived from 1907 to 2002. The prize is worth five million Swedish kronor (SEK), making it the largest award in children's literature and one of the largest literary awards globally. The annual cost of ten million SEK (in 2008) is paid for using tax money.
The Lindgren Award recognizes one or more living people or existing organizations (twelve in the first ten years) for their work. People are honored for their career achievements, and organizations are recognized for their long-term efforts to support children's literature. Specifically, the award is given to "authors, illustrators, storytellers, and people who promote reading" whose work is of the highest quality and reflects the values of Astrid Lindgren. The goal of the award is to increase interest in children's and young people's books and to support children's right to cultural experiences worldwide.
The award is managed by the Swedish Arts Council, which is fully funded by the central government. It is officially called "An award by the Swedish people to the world." The ceremony is led by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.
Award winners are chosen by a jury with diverse expertise in children's and young adult literature, reading promotion, and children's rights. The jury has twelve members, including authors, critics, scholars, illustrators, librarians, and one representative from Astrid Lindgren's family.
The award process begins no later than December, nine months before nominees are announced, fifteen months before winners are named, and eighteen months before the award is presented.
Winners
From 1992 through 2025, there were 25 total recipients of the award: 21 individuals and 4 organizations. Two awards were given in 2003, and two more were given in 2005.
Five winners of the Lindgren Award also received the Hans Christian Andersen Award earlier in their careers for their lifetime work in children's literature. These include Sendak and Erlbruch, who won for illustration, and Nöstlinger, Nunes, and Paterson, who won for writing. Astrid Lindgren, the award's namesake, received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1958. In 2020, Woodson received the Hans Christian Andersen Award as a writer, two years after winning the Lindgren Award.