Get Your Portfolio Critiqued!
(Looking for the Writer Manuscript Critique Page? Click here.)
There are a limited number of portfolio critiques available to illustrator attendees for an additional $70, selected at the time of conference registration. Once all slots are filled, a waitlist may be used on a first-come, first-served basis.
Note: A limited number of new slots became available on September 27 as part of the Extended Round.
Submission Windows
- Initial Round: September 1–16. Amelia Mack, Ariel Richardson, & Shirley Ng-Benitez
- Extended Round: September 27–October 1. Eugenia Yoh
CANCELLATIONS —
The critique fee is NOT refundable. If you cancel your conference registration or miss the submission deadline for the critique round you selected, you will not receive a critique.
Portfolio Submission Guidelines
Read and follow these guidelines exactly, or your portfolio will not be accepted. Your submission window depends on which round you signed up for:
- Initial Round: Portfolios were accepted between September 1–16
- Extended Round: Portfolios must be submitted between September 27–October 1
1. Register for Oktoberfest. During registration (because these limited slots will sell out quickly!) …
2. During registration, Select Add-On: ILLUSTRATOR PORTFOLIO CRITIQUE and choose an available reviewer.
- If you’re already registered, you may return to the registration page to add the critique option.
3. Curate your portfolio for submission. You may submit between 10-12 images.
4. Format:
— The images must all be saved as JPG files.
— The max pixel size is 1400 x 1400. No larger.
— We highly recommend 300 DPI format.
— Each image should include the illustrator’s first and last name, email address, and website if they have one.
— The file names must be formatted as FirstNameLastNameNumber (E.g. JaceSmith1.jpg)
— Your folder name must be formatted as FirstNameLastNamePortfolio (E.g. JaceSmithPortfolio.jpg)
5. When you register for the Extended Round, you will receive an email by end of day with instructions for digital portfolio upload. If you have not received instructions on the day you register, please email our Co-Regional Advisor & Portfolio Critique Coordinator Maritza Ruiz-Kim, at this address: [email protected].
In the subject line, put SCBWI Portfolio Critique Submission and your first and last name.
Example: SCBWI Portfolio Critique Submission Jace Smith
The Initial Round of Portfolio Critiques has already concluded with a submission window between September 11th - September 16th.
6. Extended Round: Between September 27th - October 1st follow portfolio submission instructions you receive by email. You will upload a folder of your digital portfolio images which will be shared with your reviewer to preview before feedback is provided.
Industry Professionals Offering Critiques
Eugenia Yoh (Just added for Extended Round, due Oct 1st!)
Eugenia Yoh is an illustrator and designer based in Berkeley. In the day time, she is a children’s book designer at Chronicle Books and has worked on an array of picture books and board books. Secretly, she is a double agent and becomes a children’s book author and illustrator in the moonlight. Her first book This Is Not My Home (Little, Brown 2022) and second book What If We (Little, Brown June 2025), were written with her college best friend. She writes stories as a way to capture the beautiful, mundane, and brilliant parts of life. May these stories make you laugh, may these stories make you cry, may they remind you what it was to be a child again.
Amelia Mack
Amelia Mack was the art director and designer for a New York Times Best Children's Book of 2024 and Society of Illustrators 2024 Original Art Show Gold Medal winning book, Pepper & Me by Beatrice Alemagna (Hippo Park). Previously a children's art director at Chronicle Books for 14 years, then founding art director of Astra's boutique imprints, Hippo Park and Minerva for two; Amelia is now children's art director at newly rebranded Union Square & Co, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. Collaboration, visions and crazy ideas coming together and being realized, and uncovering the beating, playful, wide-open child's heart of the story are the things Amelia loves most about creating children's books. She also loves all the itty-bitty details of making the "book as object" an experience to hold and read (over and over again).
Shirley Ng-Benitez
Shirley Ng-Benitez is an award-winning author/illustrator who has illustrated over 30 books for children. Her creative journey includes graphic design: GabbyandCo.com, and hand-letttering for American Greetings, Inc. A love for all things handmade, she’s continually experimenting in traditional media including watercolor, gouache, and painted & cut-paper collage. Earth, its creatures, and a deep wish for more compassion and connection in the world, are inspiration for her art and stories. In ’20, she founded the art auction @AWEtober on Instagram which has raised tens of thousands to support victims of the California wildfires, and coral reef restoration efforts around the globe. She lives in the Bay Area with her family and two black cats, and is thrilled to be working on her debut picture book, DOWN, THROUGH, UP by Quill Tree Books releasing Winter ‘25.
