WASHINGTON — Versatile author Neil Gaiman has won the most prestigious writing award in American children's literature for "The Graveyard Book," the story of an orphan raised by ghosts.

The English novelist, graphic novelist and screenwriter now lives in Minnesota, apparently making him eligible — unlike, say, J.K. Rowling — for the American Library Association-sponsored Newbery Medal.

The ALA's Caldecott Medal for children's book illustration went to Beth Krommes for "The House in the Night." The Printz Award for young adult literature (which carries no American residency requirement) went to Australian Melina Marchetta for her boarding school novel "Jellicoe Road."

At the National Book Festival last fall, Gaiman called his award-winner "the book that took me the longest to write." It began with a notion that came to him more than two decades ago. Wouldn't it be fun, he thought, to write something like Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book," except instead of having his protagonist raised by animals, he'd be raised by a graveyard full of ghosts?

"I wrote about a page and a half and I looked at it, and I thought: This is a better idea than I am a writer," Gaiman said. Eventually he decided "I'm not getting any better" and finished "The Graveyard Book."

The 2009 Youth Media Awards were announced yesterday in Denver at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting.

Kadir Nelson, who both wrote and illustrated "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball," won the Coretta Scott King Award for his writing. The King illustration award went to "The Blacker the Berry," illustrated by Floyd Cooper.

For the list of other award winners, visit www.ala.org.