The Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi was born in 2016 from the most important Italian award for literature - the Premio Strega - with the aim of promoting reading among young readers.
The Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi is awarded to children’s books published in Italy, also in translation, involving in the assignment about two thousand boys and girls aged 6 to 13 from many schools in Italy and abroad.
Sponsored by the Maria and Goffredo Bellonci Foundation and Strega Alberti Benevento – organizers of the Premio Strega – together with the Centro per il libro e la lettura and BolognaFiere-Bologna Children's Book Fair in partnership with BPER Banca and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – the Italian Education System in the World, media partner RAI, technical sponsor Feltrinelli Librerie and SYGLA.
The three competition categories - books for readers aged 6 to 7 (6+), aged 8 to 10 (8+) and aged 11 to 13 (11+), together with the prize for the best debut book launched in 2021, were joined in 2022 by a prize for the best narrative in pictures.
Targeting the same three readers groups (6 to 13), the new award for graphic novels, comics, illustrated books and wordless books reflects surging global trends showing comics and graphic novels to be among the fastest growing market segments, offering an increasingly broad range of picture and wordless books. Designed to support this flourishing category, the award acknowledges excellence in visual narrative.
The winner is awarded a cash prize offered by Strega Alberti Benevento. An equal prize, offered by BolognaFiere, shall be awarded to the translator, if the winning work is in a foreign language. A further prize of equal amount, offered by BolognaFiere, shall be awarded for the illustrator, if different from the author, in the Best narrative in pictures category.
For the 2024 edition, the winning books are selected by 318 juries of girls and boys, totalling 4650 students.