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PRESS RELEASE

French version

IBBY CANADA (International Board on Books for Young People, Canadian National Section) is pleased to announce that Kady MacDonald Denton is the winner of the 2006 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Picture Book Award for Snow (Groundwood Books).

The Honourable James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario will be guest of honour at the award ceremony on Wednesday, March 7 at 2:00 p.m. at the Toronto Public Library's TD Gallery, located in the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street). IBBY Canada will present Mr. Bartleman with a donation of more than 400 children's books for his ongoing literacy initiatives in Northern Canada. Among the donations will be books submitted by publishers for consideration for the Cleaver Award. IBBY Canada will direct all future books submitted to Mr. Bartleman's literacy initiatives.

Kady MacDonald Denton is one of Canada's most beloved and renowned children's book illustrators. Her illustrations for Snow, written by Joan Clark, are both whimsical and bold, a child's perspective of the wonder and imaginative power of snow. Among many honours and awards, this is Kady's second Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Picture Book Award; she also won in 1999 for A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. A former Manitoba resident, Kady now lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

The TD Gallery of the Toronto Reference Library is currently featuring a special exhibit of original art from the Toronto Public Library's Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books called "Picture Perfect," which includes a retrospective of IBBY Canada's Cleaver Award winners as well as a sampling of 50 original Canadian children's book illustrations.

The Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Picture Book Award, administered by IBBY Canada, was established in 1985. Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver, one of Canada's pre-eminent book illustrators, left funds in her will to annually recognize outstanding artistic talent in a Canadian picture book. The recipient receives $1,000.

IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People (www.ibby.org) promotes understanding around the world through children's literature. IBBY Canada (www.ibby-canada.org), founded in 1980, promotes quality French and English language Canadian children's literature nationally and internationally. Members include authors, illustrators, librarians, booksellers, educators, and publishers.

For more information, please contact:
Helena Aalto
Promotion Officer, IBBY Canada
(416) 658-3144
helena.aalto@rogers.com

Nanda Casucci-Byrne
Director
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
416-325-7780

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