 For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee in 1982 and again in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books.WorldCat reports that Pieńkowski's work most widely held in participating libraries is "Christmas, the King James Version" (1984; US ), a 24-page picture book that "[u]ses the words of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew to present the story of the birth of Jesus.