U.K. children’s book prizes given to two Americans

LONDON — Two Americans have for the first time been awarded the U.K.’S prestigious children’s book awards.

Ruta Sepetys won the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal for children’s writing on Monday for “Salt to the Sea,’’ a fictionalized refugee story about the 1945 sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea, in which thousands of people drowned.

The CILIP Carnegie honours outstanding writing for children and young people and is the oldest children’s book award in the U.K.