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.

Finally! Almost two decades after Deleo started his quest for the mysterious and miraculous landmass of Terra Ultima, a book is compiled of the first three major expeditions to this unknown continent.

Especially for this book, compiler and colleague explorer Noah J. Stern was granted access to Deleo’s impressive collection of drawings, objects and travel logs. He transformed the enormous amount of material into a comprehensible account of a discovery with unparalleled natural historic value.
Publisher Lannoo, in close consultation with Deleo, managed to create and design a book that pleases the eye and in the meantime will satisfy the cry for in-depth information about this remote and uncharted region of the earth. The book will become available on the 20th of April, 2021. For now, it is published in the Dutch language only, but translations might become available in the near future.

‘Terra Ultima, de ontdekking van een onbekend continent’
Archive and artwork by Raoul Deleo
Compiled by Noah J. Stern
Hardcover, 80 pages
Size: 38 cm x 28 cm / 15” x 11”
Published by Lannoo
Language: Dutch