<Tr> <Th> Original network </Th> <Td> Channel 4 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Original release </Th> <Td> 26 December 1982 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Snowman is a children's picture book without words by English author Raymond Briggs, first published in 1978 by Hamish Hamilton in the United Kingdom, and published by Random House in the United States in November of the same year . In the UK, it was the runner - up for the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British writer . </P> <P> In the US, it was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1979 . The book was adapted into a twenty - six - minute animated television special in 1982, which debuted on Channel 4 in the UK on 26 December . It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . The animated special became prominent in British popular culture and its showings have since become an annual festive event . </P>

Who wrote the children's book the snowman