2026 Winner

We are pleased to announce the winner of the eighth edition of the Premio Carla Poesio (Carla Poesio Award), the recognition aimed at rewarding the best Italian theses in children's literature.

Among the theses submitted by universities across Italy, the jury selected four finalists, listed here in alphabetical order:

• Annachiara Casoria, "Parole che si illuminano: la poesia come esperienza educativa con il metodo Caviardage®. Una ricerca esplorativa nella scuola primaria"(“Words That Illuminate: Poetry as an Educational Experience with the Caviardage® Method. An Exploratory Study in Primary School”), University of Reggio Calabria – Primary Education Sciences
• Elena Faccinelli, "Raccontare senza parole. Musica a programma e albi illustrati come forme di narrazione affini. L’oboe solista nel Novecento tra racconto e figure" (“Telling Stories Without Words. Program Music and Picturebooks as Related Narrative Forms. The Solo Oboe in the Twentieth Century Between Story and Image”), Castelfranco Veneto Conservatory – Musical Disciplines – Oboe
• Francesca Polidoro, "Storia della letteratura araba per l’infanzia. Analisi dei processi e delle tematiche principali" (“History of Arabic Children’s Literature. Analysis of the Main Processes and Themes”), European University of Rome – Primary Education Sciences
• Giancarlo Rotondi, "Nel bosco, per sempre. Viaggio nelle profondità fiabesche di Jane Eyre" (“In the Woods, Forever. A Journey into the Fairy-Tale Depths of Jane Eyre”), University of Bologna – Primary Education Sciences

After careful deliberation, the Commission selected as the winning thesis by Elena Faccinelli, "Raccontare senza parole. Musica a programma e albi illustrati come forme di narrazione affini. L’oboe solista nel Novecento tra racconto e figure" (“Telling Stories Without Words. Program Music and Picturebooks as Related Narrative Forms. The Solo Oboe in the Twentieth Century Between Story and Image”).

Jury’s statement:
The thesis explores the deep affinities and surprising analogies between the language of program music and that of picturebooks, two forms that are rarely brought into dialogue. Through this network of connections and references, it develops a wholly original interpretive path that places twentieth-century oboe repertoire in conversation with the narrative structures of picturebooks.

The extraordinary narrative potential emerging from the interplay between sonic and visual language—also reinforced by the thesis’s workshop-based dimension—reveals a richness that deserves to be explored in entirely new contexts.

Elena Faccinelli’s thesis will be published by Edizioni ETS in 2027, thanks to the support of BolognaFiere.