HUGE congratulations to author Claire Saxby and illustrator Jess Racklyeft who have won 2022 Children’s Book Council of Australia – Picture Book of the Year, for Iceberg (Allen & Unwin)!

In the final freeze of an Antarctic winter, green tails wave across a star-full sky, as if to farewell endless nights. If this world looks empty, look closer … Penguins trek across the ice to their winter homes. As the temperature warms, birds fly above on their long migrations. And with the advent of summer, beneath an iceberg, the sea is teeming with life. Ocean, sky, snow and ice – minute greens and giant blues – dance a delicate dance in this evocative portrayal of the life cycle of an iceberg.

The Picture Book category shows outstanding form in the genre in which the author and illustrator achieve artistic and literary unity. And this year Iceberg was also named a CBCA Notable book in The Eve Pownall Award, that recognises books which have the prime intention of documenting factual material with consideration given to imaginative presentation, interpretation and variation of style.

Huge congratulations to Claire Saxby and our very own Jess Racklyeft on this huge, well-earned honour. And further congratulations to their publisher, Allen & Unwin!