This Friday, September 29, during “het Kinderboekenbal” (the Children’s Book Gala), the book “Terra Ultima” has been awarded “Het Gouden Penseel” (the Golden Paintbrush) for the best illustrated children’s book of 2021. The award is one of the major literary prizes for Dutch Children’s and Young Adult literature.

Each year the jury of the CPNB (their main mission: to enrich people’s lives by having them read more books) selects and awards the best books published in the previous year. The winner of the Golden Paintbrush was selected from all the Silver Paintbrush winners awarded earlier this year.

Deleo: “I am really honored and flabbergasted at the same time. The book about the discovery of an unknown continent has been so lucky to get so much praise and publicity. As the discoverer, explorer and illustrator, this is all (and more) I hoped and wished for. A major thank you to everyone that helped me publish this book, especially the compiler, Noah J. Stern, and my publisher, Lannoo.”

This Saturday the jury of the Woutertje Pieterse Prize has chosen ‘Terra Ultima’ to be the best Dutch children’s book of the year. Raoul Deleo and Noah J. Stern received the prize during a special ceremony broadcasted by the radio program ‘De Taalstaat’ and presented by Frits Spits.

The Wouterje Pieterse Prize is the award for children’s books that are exceptional in terms of language, genre, theme, illustration, form and/or design. The aim of the prize is to promote the quality of books for children and young adults that are published in the Dutch language.

The jury, led by writer Abdelkader Benali, wrote this about Terra Ultima:

“Terra Ultima celebrates the imagination and the adventure between illusion and reality. It offers an unforgettable reading experience to old travelers and makes young hearts beat faster. A romantic exploration that shows that science and imagination can go beautifully hand-in-hand. Terra Ultima is a fabulous book to dream away with, a book to take seriously. A book that binds generations together.”

Fragments of the award ceremony can be seen and listen to here and here.

This Tuesday, January 4, the daily documentary show for young teenagers ‘Het Klokhuis’ will broadcast an item about the discovery of Terra Ultima on Dutch television.

For two days last summer, a filmcrew swarmed in and around Deleo’s studio. It was exciting and exhausting at the same time. But above all their professional approach and the final result were very impressive!

The program starts at 18:48h at NPO3 and can be viewed here.

The show is divided in three parts that are devoted to the art of Deleo:

Part 1: 0’00”- 2’58”
Part 2: 5’47”- 9’40”
Part 3: 12’00”- 14’27”

The Jan Wolkers Prize is awarded annually for the best book about nature published in the Netherlands. The book ‘Terra Ultima’ has been been nominated by the jury and placed on a shortlist among 4 other publications.

The jury wrote the following about ‘Terra Ultima’:

“The book is a rare and beautiful report full of newcomers to the animal kingdom captured by the hand of a master….With his skilled drawing pen, Deleo playfully and intelligently refers to his colleagues from history, such as John James Audubon, John Gould and Charles Darwin…Terra Ultima is not only a new authoritative guide, but also a celebration of wonder and imagination.”

In radio show “Vroege Vogels” Deleo was interviewed by Rob Buiter in nature reserve the Biesbosch, together with his colleague and archivist Noah J. Stern.

The interview can be heard here.

Fully deserved, The magnificent book by Hans Mulder entitled “De ontdekking van de natuur” was eventually awarded best book of the year.