‘Grand Prize of the German Academy for Children’s and Young Adult Literature’ awarded to Barbara Yelin
We are delighted to announce that graphic artist Barbara Yelin is the winner of the 2025 annual Grand Prize of the German Academy for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Deutsche Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur), granted in recognition for outstanding achievements in children and young adult literature.
Grand Prize poster from the German Academy for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Deutsche Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur), and Barbara Yelin. Photo credit: Martin Friedrich.
The award highlights her “multifaceted storytelling in the medium of comics – in drawing, dialogue and narrative text” and recognizes the culmination of her SCVN collaboration with Holocaust survivor Emmie Arbel in their initial graphic narrative, ‘But I Live’ and the expanded collaboration ‘Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory’.
Through translation, the academy outlines Barbara’s achievements as:
[Her] exceptional gift for biographical storytelling shines through once again – her keen powers of observation, her empathetic approach, and her richly atmospheric imagery. In addition to her artistic talent, Yelin is distinguished, among other things, by her profound social understanding and civic engagement.
Thus, she not only champions biographical remembrance work but also engages in art projects against the exploitation of refugees, antisemitism, hatred, and racism. With her artwork, Yelin makes unseen life stories and tragic events visible to us all.
The award ceremony will take place on November 21st, 2025 in Volkach, Germany, facilitated by Dr. Winfried Bausback on behalf of the Bavarian State Ministry for Science and Art.
For more details about this award, please visit the Deutsche Akademie für Kinder-und Jugendliteratur’s website here: https://www.akademie-kjl.de/preise-auszeichnungen/grosser-preis
Join us in celebrating Barbara Yelin’s achievement and stay tuned for coverage of the award ceremony in November!