Cai Gao won the "International Hans Christian Andersen Award" and became the first Chinese illustrator to receive this award.

On the evening of April 13th Beijing time, the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Awards were announced at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair, and Chinese picture book artist Cai Gao won the Illustrator Award, becoming the first Chinese illustrator to win this award. Cai Gao, female, was born in Changsha, Hunan in 1946, and is a member of the Chinese Artists Association. In 1993, she won the 14th Bratislava International Children's Book Fair Golden Apple Award with her work "Bao'er", becoming the first Chinese picture book artist to win this international award. Over the next few decades, she created dozens of classic picture books such as "The Story of Birth", "Fire City 1938", and "Short Books for Learning from Others' Shortcomings".