September
- October 2004
KARLIN GRANTS AWARDED
Deborah Diesen of Grand Ledge, MI, is this years' winner of the $1,500 Barbara Karlin Grant Award for picture book writing. The $500 runner-up grant was awarded to Mina Javaherbin of San Clemente, CA. Our congratulations to the winners and our thanks to the Karlin Coordinator, Stephanie Jacob Gordon and First Reader, Judy Enderle, as well as to our judges Denys Cazet, Nancy Mercado, and Larry Dane Brimner. Grant applications for next year's competition are available to members in the Awards & Grants section after October 1st.
RICHARD PECK NAMED MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Richard Peck has been named as the SCBWI's 2004 Member of the Year. A long time SCBWI member, Richard has been a tireless booster of the SCBWI as well as an eager volunteer in aiding the education and development of the children's book artistic community. And he has done all this while writing his Newbery Award winning books. As thanks for his devotion to the SCBWI, and to the next generation of authors and artists, we're pleased to present him with this honor.
CONTESTS AND AWARDS
Congratulations to SCBWI Member Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, author of more than 100 books about nature and science, and the recipient of the 2004 Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Non-fiction Award.
The Boston Authors Club is again sponsoring a $500 prize for a children's books (chapter books and up) published in 2004, and written by an author who lives within a 100 mile radius of Boston. For details, please visit www.bostonauthorsclub.org.
The Jane Addams Peace Association is currently considering outstanding books for children that effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world communitym and the equality of the sexes and races. Send two copies of your 2004-published book to Donna Barkman, 1 Reservoir Road, Ossining, NY 10562.
INTERMINABLE AGENCY CLAUSE PROTESTED
The Authors Guild is helping to spearhead an attempt to get some literary agencies to drop what is called an "interminable agency clause." This clause states that the agency has rights to the work for the entire term of the copyright. The Guild contends that the agency's claim should expire once the book goes out of print. It is argued that to leave the book in the hands of the agency has the potential to thwart other agreements and to complicate estate settlements. Furthermore, if the agency was to go out of business, it could take years to sort out who controls the work. Not all agencies insist on this clause. The SCBWI has joined with the Guild in recommending that members signing new contracts ask that the clause be struck.
BAD NEWS FROM THE NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts says the number of non-reading adults has increased by more than 17 million between 1992 and 2002. Only 47% of Americans read true literature, such as poetry. Narrative fiction had a drop of 7 points from 1992. Those reading any books at all dropped to 57% in 2002 from 61% a decade earlier.
WESTON GRANTS AWARDED
Fiona Bayrock is the recipient of the first Martha Weston Grant. She received $1,500 to defer her expenses to attend the upcoming 33rd Annual SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles, CA. This year the committee also selected a runner-up, Laura Purdie Salas, who received free tuition to the Annual Summer Conference. Fiona wants to make a shift from science writing to humorous fiction, and Laura from non-fiction to poetry. The judging committee was made up of Anna Grossnickle Hines, Julie Downing, and Elizabeth Partridge.
The SCBWI wishes to thank the judges for reading and assessing the forty entries, as well as the Weston/Hairston family for their generosity in funding this grant.
After publishing more than 50 picture books and easy readers as an illustrator and/or author, Martha (Hairston) Weston published her first middle-grade novel shortly before her death. Martha always took time to encourage others, and it’s the intention of the Martha Weston Grant to carry forward her generous spirit. Applicants must be published SCBWI writer or illustrator members who want to work in a different genre of children's literature other than that in which they have previously been published. The grant will again be offered next year. Watch the Bulletin and the website early next spring for grant information.
