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.