The Sue Alexander Grant is Open for Submissions!

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Christine Van Zandt, Milkweed for Monarchs, picture books, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander, writing contests

by Christine Van Zandt

The 2023 Sue Alexander Grant contest opens tomorrow, April 13, offering one SCBWI-L.A. writer a guaranteed spot and free tuition to the Working Writers Retreat (to be held at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino, September 29 to October 1, 2023). This will be the first time this popular event has been held in person since 2019!

We asked last year’s Sue Alexander Grant recipient, Christine Van Zandt, to talk about her winning manuscript:

Christine Van Zandt, 2022 Sue Alexander Grant recipient, with western monarch.

The idea for Butterfly Dreams began in May 2020, when my daughter and I bought our first milkweed plant unaware that a mother monarch had sent us home with a surprise—actually 26 surprises! Soon, our plant was covered in adorable caterpillars. We excitedly watched them grow … until something came along one night and ate every last one.

Hear ye, hear ye: Announcing the 2023 SCBWI-L.A. Mentorship Contest Winner!

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Cara J. Stevens, contests, Jeff Creely, Mentorship Award, picture book, SCBWI community

by Cara J. Stevens

Note: In January, we invited picture book authors to apply for a six-month mentorship with one of our Published and Listed members. This year’s mentor, Cara J. Stevens, joins us to announce the winner and share some of the submission highlights.

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I was blown away by the submissions I received for this year’s mentorship contest. Each story showed promise, and each author’s interview responses showed just how ready they all are to take their picture book writing to the next level.

Attention Picture Book Writers: SCBWI-L.A.’s Mentorship Contest Is Now Open!

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contests, illustrators, Joseph Taylor, mentorship, picture book, Sarah Gottlieb, SCBWI members, writer

by Sarah Gottlieb

About this time last year, I was drowning in “champagne rejections.” I had a wonderful but complicated idea and had spent a lot of time working on a manuscript and query letter. What was causing agents to write complimentary emails but not take the plunge? Or worse, to say, “Call me if someone makes you an offer!” I knew I had a great idea—the agents said as much—but I didn’t know why they wouldn’t bite. 

I thought of all of the writers I’d met and wondered if a mentor could help. I checked SCBWI-L.A. to see if they had any information on mentorships and, to my delight, this very mentorship contest was open for submission. AND the mentor was Joseph Taylor, the editor of MUSE, the children’s science magazine. I couldn’t believe my luck. 

SCBWI-L.A. Writers Day Contest: And the Winners Are…

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authors, Laurie L. Young, middle grade, Nicholas Ponticello, Patricia Toht, picture book, Ronna Mandel, SCBWI events, Vincent X. Kirsch, young adult

by Brenda Scott Royce, Contest Coordinator

A highlight of Writers Day every year is the announcement of the winners of the writing contest. It’s not only exciting for the lucky ones called to the stage—hearing what the judges had to say about the stand-out manuscripts can also be instructive and inspiring for the rest of us. While cheering on our fellow writers, we just may hear something that sparks an idea for a revision or a whole new story.

Please join us in celebrating the 2022 Writers Day Contest runners-up and winners, who were announced at the SCBWI-L.A./CenCal Writers Day event on Saturday, October 23. 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!

Calling All Illustrators: Be a Mentor in 2023! But First … a Word from This Year’s Mentor

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illustrators, Joseph Taylor, mentor, mentorship, nonfiction, PAL Illustrators, Sarah Gottlieb

by Joseph Taylor

Editor’s Note: Mentorship proposals are now open to PAL Illustrator members of the Los Angeles Region for the 2023 Mentorship program! Read on to find out more about this rewarding experience and how you can help champion the next mentee!

A few months after starting a new job as editor of Muse magazine, I got the chance to focus on book writing with 2022 SCBWI-L.A. mentee Sarah Gottlieb. I was grateful to SCBWI-L.A. for offering a mentorship focusing on nonfiction for the first time and delighted to get the chance to work with Sarah.

3rd Annual #KTIllustrates Contest: Call for Entries

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book covers, contest, illustrators, interior art, KTIllustrates, middle grade, picture book, SCBWI members, spot illustration, young adult

Calling all Illustrators! Kite Tales invites you, our illustrator members, to participate in our annual #KTIllustrates Contest: we give you a prompt and you show us your best take. The illustration can be in any medium, for any age range, and any genre. It can be conceptual or literal, spot or spread, as long as it keeps the idea of the prompt as it would apply to children’s books. (If you’re inspired to create a cover illustration instead, go for it!) All are welcome, as long as the final entry follows the guidelines posted on the entry page.

Interview with Emily Asaro, Winner of 2022 Twitter Banner Contest

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Emily Asaro, illustrator tips, illustrators, portfolio tips, portfolios, SCBWI members, watercolor

In SCBWI-L.A.’s latest Twitter Banner Contest, illustrators were asked to submit their most creative response to our prompt: FLIGHTS OF FANCY. The winning contestant’s artwork is featured on the Los Angeles Region SCBWI Twitter profile until the next contest, with a feature article published here on Kite Tales.

We’re excited to announce Emily Asaro as our winner! Emily is an illustrator who grew up in a small beach town in southern New Jersey. She has spent most of her life by the sea and currently calls the West coast home. She has won the SCBWI-L.A. Illustrator’s Day 2019 Portfolio contest and the Illustration Mentorship contest and shows her work at galleries all over Southern California.

Read on to learn more about Emily, her tips and tools, and what inspires her work.

Just Do It! Enter the 2022 SCBWI-L.A. Writers Day Contest

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Christine Van Zandt, contests, Erica Rich, middle grade, Nicholas Ponticello, nonfiction, picture books, poetry, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Toni Gallagher, Writers Day 2022, young adult

by Brenda Scott Royce

Why do we enter writing contests? Prizes are awfully nice, and hearing your name announced as the winner is a definite thrill. But perhaps even more motivating is the validation that comes with recognition of your work. There’s nothing like learning that the speck of an idea you plucked from thin air and coaxed into shape over weeks, months, or maybe even years, actually has wings and can fly. 

The 2022 SCBWI-L.A. Nonfiction Mentorship Contest Winner Is…

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2022 winner, contest winner, Joseph Taylor, mentorship, news, nonfiction, writing contest

by Brenda Scott Royce

SCBWI-L.A. is thrilled to announce the winner of the 2022 Nonfiction Mentorship Contest!

The competition was steep and the submissions enticingly diverse, making the decision a difficult one for mentor Joseph Taylor.

Mentorship Contest Now Open!

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Cricket Media, Joseph Taylor, mentorship, nonfiction, writing contest

by Brenda Scott Royce

Writers: Do you have a great idea for a nonfiction project noodling in your brain? A work-in-progress that needs a little nurturing before being sent out into the world? If so, I implore you to consider applying for SCBWI-L.A.’s Nonfiction Mentorship Contest. This amazing opportunity pairs you with a dedicated, experienced mentor for a six-month period that can be absolutely career changing! Past SCBWI-L.A. mentees have landed agents and publishing deals.

The deadline for submissions is January 26 — so you can channel your New Year’s Resolution energy into preparing your submission.