Queen Margrethe of Denmark refused to patronize the Hans Christian Andersen literary prize. The reason was the appointment of the Russian Anastasia Arkhipova as the head of the jury.
Folkeskolen writes about it.
The award was removed from the list of foreign projects under the patronage of the Queen. Also, the mention of royal patronage has disappeared from the website of the International Board of Books for Young Adults (IBBY).
In September, at the IBBY congress in Malaysia, the Russian illustrator and professor Arkhipova was chosen as the head of the jury. This outraged the representatives of some countries of the council. In particular, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania tried to get Arkhipova to resign.
In response to criticism of the boardʼs countries, IBBY responded that board members do not represent their countryʼs government but simply themselves as authors, designers, or publishers.
The Hans Christian Andersen Prize, established in 1956, is presented every two years by the IBBY International organization and is awarded to writers and illustrators for outstanding contributions to childrenʼs literature. It is called the Nobel Prize in childrenʼs literature.