The Carnegie Medal in Literature was established in 1936 in honor of Andrew Carnegie. It is awarded each July for recognition of an outstanding book for children and young adult readers, written in English and first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year.

The Carnegie judging panel consists of 13 children's librarians from The Library Association Youth Libraries Group. The Carnegie Medal has been won by many of the great names in children's literature, including C. S. Lewis.

The original rules stated that an author could only win the Medal once. This rule was later changed to enable subsequent work by the same author to be included for consideration.