Every "even" year, IBBY proudly announces the winners of the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Award—2018 was no exception. The announcement has attracted a larger audience over the years, especially since IBBY has made the announcement in the central area of the fair at the Illustrators Café. Every year the IBBY activities at the book fair start before the fair opens with two days of intense Executive Committee meetings, where IBBY's business and projects are discussed. The first day of the fair was on Monday, March 26, and the IBBY press conference was held on that afternoon. The conference was live-streamed so all IBBY members and friends around the world could watch the event.