The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children’s books. Given every other year by IBBY, the Hans Christian Andersen Awards recognize lifelong achievement and are presented to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children’s literature.

The IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award was established in 1986 during the IBBY Congress in Tokyo. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper company sponsors the award. It is given biennially to one group or institution whose outstanding activities are judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion programmes for children and young people.

The IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award has been established by the Shenzhen iRead Foundation and IBBY to encourage a real commitment to the cause of reading promotion in the hope of spreading this dedication to others around the globe.

The IBBY Honour List is a biennial selection of outstanding recently published books, honouring writers, illustrators and translators from IBBY member countries. The titles are selected by the National Sections which can nominate one book for each of the three categories (writing, illustration and translation). Seven sets of the books circulate around the world at exhibitions during conferences and book fairs, including the Bologna Book Fair.