Boys and books and all-female prize panels.
At the New Statesman:
Even picture books that are intended to appeal primarily to boys reflect the tastes of the mother or grandmother that will usually be buying them as well as the child they’re bought for. Picture book pirates are less prone to combat than their counterparts in other media, monsters and aliens less frightening, vehicles and machines less technically detailed. Elements of danger and threat are tamed or omitted altogether on the grounds of being unappealing or inappropriate. In short, picture books with boy-friendly themes tend to be cuter and tamer than similarly themed TV shows, films or video games.
So, on the one hand, I know that it would raise my hackles if an awards committee was comprised of all male judges.
On the other, I wanted to punch this article in the face. It's so, so entrenched in gender binarism and the idea that women are somehow incapable of appreciating books that incorporate elements of "combat, peril, villainy and technology". Barf.