The winners of the 22nd CBI Book of the Year Awards were announced today by Fergus Finlay at a special ceremony 
in Wood Quay, Dublin. Awards were presented for the Book of the Year, the Eilís Dillon Award, the Children’s Choice Awards and the Honour and Judges’ Special Award.
Celine Kiernan was the first author to win both the 2012 CBI Book of the Year Award and the Children’s Choice Award for her novel Into the Grey, which tells the story of identical teenage twins Patrick and Dominic who are forced to move after a fire destroys their family home. The judges said: “this supernatural thriller brings together past and present to explore the complexities of fraternal love and the pain of loss“. At the awards ceremony Celine was presented with her awards trophies and a cheque for €5,000. Into the Grey was also announced as the winner of the Children’s Choice Award, judged by eight specially appointed junior juries comprising young people from school and library reading groups around Ireland.
The winner of the Eilís Dillon Award, valued at €1,000 and awarded to a first time author or illustrator, was Paula Leyden for The Butterfly Heart. Paula’s book reflects much of her own experience growing up in Zambia.
Mark O’Sullivan received the Judges’ Special Award for My Dad is 10 Years Old and how it deals with complex family and health issues. Oliver Jeffers was awarded the Honour Award for Illustration for Stuck and its outstanding quality of illustration which encourages readers to journey imaginatively into the absurd, while the Honour Award for Fiction was given to Siobhán Parkinson for Maitríóisce – a novel in Irish which brings its protagonist back through five generations of her family.
Congratulations to all the winning authors and illustrators, as well as to all those on the shortlist.