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Cambria Gordon, Helena Ku Rhee, Julia Edwards, Moni Ritchie, R.S. Mellete, SAG, Sue Alexander Grant
By Karol Ruth Silverstein, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator
To deem the results of the 2018 Sue Alexander Grant a “close call” would be putting it mildly. The top five manuscripts all ranked within a point of one another, with this year’s winner just edging out the runner-up.
Speaking of the winning manuscript, one of our anonymous judges noted, “It has all the pieces: Great voice, unique world-building that is nicely integrated into the storytelling, a cliff hanger ending, great humor mixed with tension and good dialogue.” Another judge added that it was the “most original manuscript of the group” and a “perfect middle grade” story.
The cherry on top? This year’s winner was last year’s runner-up! Continue reading
In SCBWI-L.A.’s first 
In 2010, I submitted the picture book Not So Loud, Natsumi! to the 
#KT250 is a Kite Tales quarterly community contest! We’re proud to announce this quarter’s winners and share the first 250 words of their unpublished manuscripts. We encourage agents, publishers, and mentors to reach out to any they find intriguing!
It’s time once again to polish up those manuscripts and submit to the 
ANDREA CUSTER: I workshopped it with my critique group as I was writing the first draft. They are an amazing group, quite astute, and so I had the benefit of their comments early on and had already revised the first half of the manuscript based on their feedback. Submitting it for consideration for SAG was actually a bit of an impulse! I saw the reminder on 
SCBWI-L.A. is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2018 Mentorship Contest. These two lucky writers will each enjoy a six-month mentorship with their respective PAL member mentors. To all those who applied but were not selected, please know that our mentors considered the competition very steep. Your applications definitely made it difficult for them to choose their mentees.
By Mary Ann Fraser
Every year, SCBWI Los Angeles opens our Writers Day contest to all members attending the event. This year, our anonymous judges chose 10 honorees in Young Adult, Middle Grade, Picture Book, and Other (which includes poetry and non-fiction). First place winners in each category receive free tuition to next year’s Writers Day, as well as a manuscript critique from one of this year’s faculty members. There were a lot of wonderful entries and a “20% of total entries” guideline was used to determine how many manuscripts were honored in each category. As Contest Coordinator Karol Ruth Silverstein so aptly put it, “Regardless of whether you win or lose, putting your work out there to be judged by entering the contest is a courageous act in itself. So let me first congratulate all of you who entered.”
Each year, the Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award is presented to a regional volunteer who has shown exceptional dedication to SCBWI Los Angeles. This year’s winner, Karol Ruth Silverstein, credits her time volunteering as Schmooze/LitMingle Meister with signing with an agent and subsequently selling a book. She’s since moved on to be our Contest Coordinator and is so dedicated, she was just featured in our previous “Volunteer Spotlight” (
Our 2018 Middle-Grade Mentor is Mary Hershey.