SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
by Brenda Scott Royce, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator
Christine Van Zandt, 2021 Sue Alexander Grant winner
We’re thrilled to announce this year’s Sue Alexander Grant winner—Christine Van Zandt—for her nonfiction picture book, Butterfly Dreams. The book’s inspiration came in May 2020, when Van Zandt and her daughter bought their first milkweed plant, “unaware that a mother monarch had sent us home with a surprise—actually 26 surprises,” she says. “Soon, our plant was covered in adorable caterpillars. We excitedly watched them grow, . . . until all perished.”
The sad turn of events led Van Zandt to research monarch declines, plant milkweed, and educate others by writing this lyrical story.
Here’s what our judges had to say about her manuscript:
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
The event was virtual, but the excitement was still palpable as the winners for the 2021 Writers Day Contest were announced at the end of Writers Day on Saturday, June 12. First place winners in each category (Picture Book, Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Nonfiction/Other) will receive free tuition to next year’s Writer’s Day, as well as a manuscript critique from one of this year’s faculty members. Excerpts from the judges’ comments are included in the list of honorees below. If you’d like to contact any of the winners to request their manuscript or discuss publication, please let us know!
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
Rucker Moses is the pen name of Los Angeles authors Craig S. Phillips and Harold Hayes Jr. Together, they have been nominated for three Emmys for writing in a children’s program. Along with Theo Gangi, Rucker Moses are co-authors of the middle grade book Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found (book one of two, Penguin, February 2021).
CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! Your new book has three authors. Wow! How did two of you work together, and then how did your Rucker Moses portion coordinate with the sections Theo Gangi wrote?
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate here at Kite Tales! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world. Horn-tooting and digital hi-fives welcome in the comments!
This year’s Writers’ Day consisted of three separate webinars. On Saturday, September 26, after a fabulous presentation by Erin Siu, associate editor at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group’s imprints, Square Fish, and Feiwel & Friends, the winners of our writing contest were announced.
Thank you to all our anonymous judges, who were chosen from outside our region. The judges’ comments are included in the list of honorees below. Most Promising will receive free entry to next year’s CenCal Writers’ Day. Special Mention will receive half-off Writers’ Day admission.
Congratulations to all our contest participants, including our winners!
Similar to SCBWI-LA’s annual Twitter Banner Contest, Kite Tales wants to invite our members to take part in #KTIllustrates, a new illustration contest to reward and promote your work! The contest will begin with a prompt, but it’s up to you on how you want to illustrate it. It can be either conceptual or literal, spot or spread, and keeping the idea of the prompt as it would apply to children’s books. We encourage every medium, genre, and age range! (Maybe you’d be inspired to do a cover piece for a middle grade, for example?) All are welcome, as long as the final entry stays within the guidelines posted on the entry page.