Author Aidan Chambers and illustrator Quentin Blake have been awarded the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Awards, given biennially to an author and an illustrator whose bodies of work have made an important and lasting contribution to children's literature. The awards, which are administered by the International Board on Books for Young People, were announced at the Bologna Book Fair and are the most prestigious international awards in children's books.

This is only the second time in the history of the awards that both winners come from the same country (the United Kingdom). In fact, both are published by the same company: Random House.

Chambers, the first British novelist to win the award since Eleanor Farjeon in 1956, has published seven novels; his most recent, Postcards from No Man's Land, is being published in the U.S. next month by Dutton. Blake has illustrated more than 300 books for children since 1968, including (and probably most famously) many works by Roald Dahl.