Ukrainian artist Olha Shtonda has been nominated for the UK Carnegie Medal for Illustration for her artwork for the children’s book The Map of Me by writer Nicola Davies. This was reported by Chytomo, citing the award’s website.
In total, 63 publications are in contention for the prize, including work by five illustrators from Central and Eastern Europe.
The Map of Me is a book by British writer Nicola Davies, published on 29 January 2026 by Templar Books, which is owned by Bonnier Books UK.
The book’s main character is a little girl who moves to another country with her family. In her new home, everything feels unfamiliar: she does not know the streets, cannot find her way around the neighbourhood, and misses the people and places left far behind. To help her daughter settle into her new surroundings, her mother suggests drawing a map. At first, streets, houses, the school, shops and other places the girl gradually discovers appear on it. Later, the heroine realises the map is missing important parts of her life — her grandmother and her dog Joe, who stayed in another country. She then expands the drawing to include not only her new home but also memories of the previous one.
The book’s author, Nicola Davies, is a British writer who has worked in children’s literature for more than twenty years. Her works have been translated into more than ten languages. In 2025–2027, Davies holds the honorary post of Wales Children’s Laureate.
Olha Shtonda is an illustrator from Kharkiv. She studied at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, where she focused on graphics and printmaking techniques. In 2019, Shtonda received an Ars In Fabula grant, which enabled her to continue her studies in book illustration in Italy. She completed the Ars In Fabula Picture Book Academy programme, specialising in creating illustrated books. Her clients include Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury Publishing, Google and The New York Times.
In 2019, Shtonda’s work was selected for the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition. In 2021, the artist was shortlisted for the international World Illustration Awards competition with her piece Not My Day in the “Research” category.
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are an annual literary award presented for outstanding achievement in fiction and non-fiction. The medal reflects the judgement and views of library professionals and booksellers, and also recognises books for adult readers. The prize is named after the Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), who founded more than 2,800 libraries in English-speaking countries.