Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights has been voted the best children’s book of the past 70 years by the public, it was announced today.

The author received 40 per cent of the total votes cast in an online poll, beating Mary Norton’s The Borrowers and Alan Garner’s The Owl Service.

The Top Ten “Carnegie of Carnegies” list was compiled by the organisers of Britain’s most prestigious prize in children’s literature, the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

The Carnegie does not offer a cash prize, but is sought after by children's writers because of its unique judging process. Unlike other literary awards, which seek submissions from publishers, the Carnegie takes its nominations from librarians.

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Pullman said: “I am humbled and honoured that Northern Lights has been chosen from among so many wonderful books. Personally I feel they got the initials right but not the name. I don’t know if the result would be the same in a hundred year’s time; maybe Philippa Pearce would win then.”

The top ten list drew criticism when it was released in April for not including some of the best-known and most successful children’s writers of the era. Enid Blyton, J. K. Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson were not on the list because they have never won the prize.

“The competition was formidable,” said Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust and one of the top ten judges. “The top ten includes some of the greatest children’s writing of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

Mr Douglas said that Northern Lights was a deserving winner and that Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy had “redefined children’s literature and changed the way we think about children’s books. They are classics.”

Pullman’s books have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 37 languages. The Golden Compass has been made into a film which is due out in December, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

Meanwhile, Dogger by Shirley Hughes has been voted the nation’s favourite Kate Greenaway Medal winner of all time.

The Kate Greenaway Medal is the Carnegie’s sister prize. It was established in 1956 for outstanding illustration in a children’s book and is judged in the same way.

Hughes has written and illustrated more than 200 books and has twice won the Greenaway. Her latest book, Alfie and the Big Boys, is due to be published in August.

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