The Jella Lepman medal is named after the founder of IBBY and was first awarded in 1991 in celebration of the centennial of her birth. At that time it was given to four persons – most of them founders of IBBY – and six institutions that had made lasting contributions to children’s literature. In 2005 the IBBY Executive Committee decided to reinstate this specific award of recognition as a permanent institution.

2010 Presentation of Jella Lepman Medal

At the closing ceremony of the 32nd IBBY World Congress Joan Glazer (Warwick, RI,USA) was presented with a Jella Lepman medal in acknowledgement of her magnificent contribution to IBBY.  Joan was the President of Bookbird Inc Board for 11 years publishing IBBY's quarterly journal  Bookbird and making it a source of pride for IBBY.  To see Joan receiving her medal from President Patsy Aldana go to Congress 2010 picture gallery.  (Sunday)

Three medals were awarded in 2006 to:

Mr. Hideo Yamada, Okayama Prefecture (Japan)

President of the Yamada Apiculture Center Inc.

for his generous support of IBBY and its projects through the IBBY-Yamada Fund

The Nissan Motor Co., Tokyo (Japan)

as tribute for their longstanding support of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards

Mr Vincent Frank-Steiner, Basel (Switzerland)

for his expert financial advice

In 1991 Jella Lepman medals were presented to the following people:

Mr Richard Bamberger, Vienna (Austria)

founding member of IBBY and former President

Ms Jo Tenfjord, Oslo (Norway)

founding member of IBBY and former Vice President

Mr Fritz Brunner, Zurich (Switzerland)

founding member of IBBY and former treasurer

Mr John Donovan, New York (USA)

former treasurer of IBBY

In 1991 Jella Lepman medals were presented to the following institutions and organizations:

Pro Juventute, Zurich (Switzerland)

International Youth Library, Munich (Germany)

Biennale of Illustrations, Bratislava (Slovakia)

Bologna International Children’s Book Fair, Bologna (Italy)

The Asahi Shimbun Newspaper Company, Tokyo (Japan)

IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Disabled Young People, Oslo (Norway)

More information about the medals is in Bookbird, issue 1/1991, page 16.

see the IBBY archives: Austrian Literature Online  (ALO)