Trash by Andy Mulligan and Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans have both been shortlisted for the UK's most prestigious children's book award: the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2012.    

The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children. This year sees the youngest Carnegie shortlist for years featuring no less than four debut novels on the eight-strong shortlist. The eight books on this year's shortlist are variously suitable for readers of 12 years, or younger, bucking the trend of recent shortlists which have majored on teenage and young adult fiction.

The Carnegie Medal was established in 1936, in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). Carnegie was a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in the USA. His experience of using a library as a child led him to resolve that "if ever wealth came to me that it should be used to establish free libraries."

Carnegie set up more than 2800 libraries across the English speaking world and, by the time of his death, over half the library authorities in Great Britain had Carnegie libraries.

The winner receives a golden medal and £500 worth of books to donate to a library of their choice.

The medal is awarded by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.