According to Kanoon General Directorate for Public Relations and International Affairs, 265 nominees from 72 countries are introduced to this award in which there are 81 new candidates.
Based on this, two Kanoon nominees, Mohammad Mirkiani at authorship section and Ali Khodaei at illustration section are approved by this competition. The list includes authors, illustrators, storytellers, and book-reading promoters.
Mohammad Mirkiani is an author, playwright, and screenplay writer for children and adolescents' literature. He is one of those Iranian authors who has been writing for pre-schoolers, children and adolescents for more than forty years. His works are among the best-sellers which has won numerous awards of book of the year, also from other festivals.
His works has been published in Turkey, the People's Republic of China, Pakistan, Lebanon, Azerbaijan Republic, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan is a proof that children and teenagers in these countries are fond of his works.
He has a unique outlook towards ancient and folk literature of Iran. He attempts to attend to the meaning of life and promote children and adolescents’ understanding about the untold matters.
Teaching storytelling and children literature are the two jobs he does next to executive ones like managing children periodicals, radio and television programs.
The creation of more than 260 stories by this author in the form of television series (real) and animation shows has changed him into a hard-working writer, a prolific researcher and a tireless manager for children and teenagers
Ali Khodaei is an illustrator and author who has received many awards for his books namely “Are you a Stork or a Woodpecker?”, a book for children with special needs selected by IBBY.
He is a prominent author in creating wordless books for kids. These works have created a new aspect in the tradition and culture of illustrating books in Iran. By employing images in a creative way, he could establish a deep connection with children, thus promoting his creativity.
In his illustrations, Khodaei has created a happy world with peaceful, friendly, and pleasant characters having the ability to make deep connections with children’s world and culture.
Khodaei's works has always been noticed in a special way by universities and children literature institutions for attending to theoretical issues.
It should be mentioned that Ahmad Akbarpour (author), Alireza Goldouzian (illustrator), Hoda Haddadi (illustrator), Houshang Moradi Kermani (author), Navid Seyed Ali Akbar (author), Reza Dalvand (illustrator), and the project called “Read with Me” (promoting book-reading) were introduced by other juries like Children Book Council, The Association of Writers for Children and Youth were introduced to win this award.
The world award of Astrid Lindgren worth of five million Krona (400, 000 Pounds) is the biggest and most expensive children and adolescents’ literature award. Also, it is the second largest children's and youth literature prize in the world after the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.
Ms. Astrid Lindgren is a well-known Swedish author who has written books like “Pippi Longstocking”, and “Karlsson on the Roof”. She passed away in 2002 at the age of 94. To commemorate her, the government of Sweden established a world competition naming after her which is held every year.
The goal of presenting this award is to strengthen and promote the quality of children and adolescent literature and children rights in the world.
Last year, Kanoon nominees for Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award were Jamaleddin Akrami in authorship domain and Reza Dalvand in illustration. “Australia Indigenous Literacy Foundation” in promoting book-reading section was the winner of Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2024.