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June 3, 2022

SCBWI Announces 2022 Crystal Kite Award Winners

SCBWI is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards. Given to books in fifteen regions that represent excellence in the field of children’s literature, the Crystal Kites Awards are peer-selected, voted on by SCBWI members from local regions. Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 publishing year, proudly presented here by regional division. 

Asia

Temple Alley Summer

Written by Sachiko Kashiwaba, illustrated by Miho Satake, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa





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Atlantic

(Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland)

A Place to Hang the Moon

by Kate Albus





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 Australia / New Zealand

Heroes of the Secret Underground

by Susanne Gervay





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California, Hawaii

Hello, Star

written by Stephanie Lucianovic, illustrated by Vashti Harrison





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Canada

Tough Like Mum

written by Lana Button, illustrated by Carmen Mok





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Other Internationals

The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe

written by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Aimée Sicuro





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Midsouth

(Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana)

I'll Meet You in Your Dreams

Written by Jessica Young, illustrated by Rafael Lopez 





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Midwest

(Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio)

Headstrong Hallie! The Story of Hallie Morse Daggett, the First Female "Fire Guard”

Written by Aimée Bissonette, illustrated by David Hohn





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New England

(Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)

Red, White, and Whole

by Rajani LaRocca





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New York

Dumplings for Lili

by Melissa Iwai





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Southeast

(Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama)

The Longest Letsgoboy

written by Derick Wilder, illustrated by Catia Chien





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Southwest

(Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Southern Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico)

Watercress

Written by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Jason Chin





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Texas, Oklahoma

Dark and Shallow Lies

by Ginny Myers Sain




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United Kingdom, Ireland

The Bear and her Book

Written by Frances Tosdevin, illustrated by Sophia O’Conner



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West

(Washington, Northern Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota)

The Last Cuentista

by Donna Barba Higuera



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Click here to learn more about the Crystal Kite Awards.

#SCBWI22CK

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Exclusive SCBWI video content from kidlit's best and brightest

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Great Reads. Important Themes.

All-new books by our members.

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Self-Kindness During Covid: A Guide to In-Person Writing Events 

by Olivia Abtahi

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Olivia Abtahi

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of attending an in-person book conference. After years of meeting people through computer screens, it felt incredible to speak face-to-face with fellow authors and educators. Yet, a couple of hours into the event, I got a pounding headache. My jaw became permanently clenched. Worse, I kept dissecting everything I said, worried that maybe I had forgotten how to take social cues after exclusively talking to my husband and toddler for two years. I had officially forgotten how to participate in large groups.


To be clear: we are still in a pandemic. COVID is not “over.” For many people, attending in-person events is not a possibility, and after having to wear a mask during labor, it felt surreal shaking a random librarian’s hand in a crowded indoor venue. The low-grade headache I eventually experienced was the cognitive dissonance of wondering if a RomCom panel would finally be the one to plunge my loved ones to certain doom. It didn’t seem to matter how low the numbers in our area were or how much sense it made for me to attend: The reason I was having a hard time adjusting was because I actually hadn’t planned for any adjustment at all. I had gamely assumed I could pick up right where I left off, throwing emotional caution to the wind.

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Social Media Spotlight: June 2022

by Avery Silverberg

Welcome back to the Social Media Spotlight, where every month, I answer your most pressing questions about social media. If you haven’t dedicated time to your social media presence, summer is the perfect time to start. Summer reading is here and so are readers hungerly scrolling social media, searching for books to occupy their children while they’re out of school! If you have a burning social media question, email me at socialmediahelp@scbwi.org. No question is too small or too big!

 

Hi Avery,


The only social media platform I have is Instagram which I love for posting my work and building my portfolio. However, when it comes to posting videos or using any other features I am completely lost. I’m wondering if you can help me understand what I should be using and/or if it is okay to continue posting pictures? Thank you for your time.


Carol

 

 

Hi Carol,


Thanks for your question! As Instagram (and other social media platforms) turn to video content more so than ever before, you are not alone in wondering: what does this mean for my content? With the rise of Tik Tok, the Instagram algorithm is pushing videos to everyone’s feed in attempt to compete with user-attention. In other words: the more you use video content, the more your account is going to be pushed out to your followers’ feeds. Understandably so, this can be frustrating when so many of us (particularly artists) are on Instagram for the photos!


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Giving Bicultural Kids a Sense of Self

by Meg Medina

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This article has been re-printed here with the permission of Meg Medina and the Los Angeles Times.


Perhaps the most impactful thing a parent of color can do is encourage reading.


As I travel to speak at schools across the country, I am sometimes the first Latinx author students have ever interacted with, even in communities with high Latinx populations.

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Member Tip


Do not "unsubscribe" to any SCBWI emails. Doing that means you'll miss important information and member benefit news. We'll be clear in the subject line as to what the email is about. If the email doesn't interest you, feel free to just delete it!

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Tune into the SCBWI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, IHeartRadio, Pandora, & Stitcher. New episodes every Wednesday!

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Apply to one of our 34 awards, grants, and scholarships today!




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SCBWI Announces the Impact and Legacy Fund

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The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is proud to announce the launch of the SCBWI Impact and Legacy Fund, a division of SCBWI created to support new and impactful charitable activities of the organization. Of particular note, The Fund’s projects will not be limited to SCBWI members but will be available to the entire children’s book community. “We believe the best way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SCBWI is to create and fund programs that benefit the life-affirming spirit of children’s book creators everywhere,” commented Bruce Coville, a long time member of the Advisory Council. Sarah Baker, SCBWI’s Executive Director, said “I’m excited for the new opportunities the Impact and Legacy Fund will provide for members of the children’s book community all over the world.” 

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2022 Member Survey Results

SCBWI’s first-ever member survey was in circulation from April 21 – June 1 with the goal of acquiring demographic data, member insights, and feedback on benefits, awards, and grants. As part of the changes happening at SCBWI, we felt it was important to get members’ thoughts concerning how they feel about the organization assisting them in their creative journeys. The findings reported here represent the 3,400 respondents to the survey, not the entire membership of 25,000. About 14% of the membership answered the survey. The only questions which required an answer were questions 1-4, those that are in the Statistics category. Note that the number of members answering the remaining optional questions varied from question to question.

 

Statistics

Members from almost every region around the globe let us know how they felt. The biggest groups of global respondents came from the British Isles (4%), Australia/New Zealand (3%), and Canada East (2%). The largest single group of all respondents were those who’ve been members for 2-5 years at 34%. The other largest group was a combined 49% of those who have been members for 6-10 years (26%) and 11-20 years (23%). Authors were the biggest craft category at 76% with Author-illustrators following at 19%, illustrators at 4%, and translators at 0.27%. Full members were the largest group of respondents at 52%. PAL members came in at 31%, Associate members were 16%, Developing Nations at 0.71%, and Students at 0.36%

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SCBWI Exclusive with... Karly Dizon, Agent, Fuse Literary

Associate Agent Karly Dizon was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Northern California as a child. She obtained her Business Marketing degree and has been a Freelance Graphic Designer for over 10 years. In addition to designing a wide range of print and web promotional material for clients, Karly creates book covers for Short Fuse and promotional graphics for Fuse authors.


Professionally, Karly began her career in the publishing industry as a reader for Tricia Skinner at Fuse Literary. Her responsibilities quickly grew and she was promoted to Literary Assistant, a role that also included a spot on the production team of Short Fuse.

Karly is also the KidLit Track Coordinator for the San Francisco Writers Conference. In her spare time, Karly is an Adobe Technical Trainer, freelance graphic designer, Young Adult author, video game geek, and art noob.


Karly has a deep love for characters with a strong voice and seeks out stories she can get lost in. Diversity in genre fiction is a major bonus. She specializes in picture book, middle grade, and young adult genre fiction (fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary).

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Karly Dizon

What Are You Reading?


Sarah Baker (Executive Director):

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown


Kim Turrisi (Director of Programming and Content):

Blackbirds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert


Tammy Brown (Director of Marketing and Communication Strategy):

Stuntboy by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Raúl the Third


Sarah Diamond (Senior Manager of Awards and Publications):

Out of the Blue by Jason June


Avery Silverberg (Social Media Manager):

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

SCBWI DRAW THIS!

Draw This! is our monthly prompt word for illustrators. Artists can post their DrawThis! entries on Twitter and Instagram with the tag #SCBWIDrawThis

There is no longer a gallery for DrawThis! View all entries by searching the tag #SCBWIDrawThis.


The May prompt was DRAMA

The May winners are...

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Amberlea Williams

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Sanne Dufft

The June prompt is: PRIDE

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