Mentorship General Information
What is the Mentorship Program?
Each year, SCBWI-MI offers a mentorship experience to help guide authors and illustrators on their creative journeys. An experienced author or illustrator serves as the mentor, and meets with the winning mentee four times over a calendar year, providing feedback on their manuscript/ portfolio. Anyone who applies for the program receives written feedback on their submissions from our super-secret superstar judges (this alone is worth the entry fee!). Read on to learn more!
Schedule
⭐The mentorship takes place during one calendar year. ⭐Registration opens on January 2. ⭐The mentee will be announced at the beginning of April. ⭐The mentorship will last from April to November.
Registration Fees
⭐To continue attracting high-quality mentors, the registration fee is $55. ⭐For this price, all applicants will receive feedback on their work from three different, anonymous judges who have experience in the genre.
Awards
The winner will receive a “golden ticket” to submit their mentorship project to an acquiring editor, agent, or art director. This respected professional will be hand-picked and approved by our executive team, so you know you will be paired with a reputable leader in the field.
Gold Form
Mentors will now use the Gold Form to provide feedback to the first- and second-place runners-up to maintain consistency with the chapter’s other paid critique options (e.g., conference critiques, Critique Carousel, etc.). The Gold Form was created by SCBWI International as a standard across all regions, ensuring that you receive a higher quality of feedback for your submissions.
Critique Carousel Entry
First-place runners-up will receive one free entry to our annual Critique Carousel for any project.
Bookstore Gift Card
Second-place runners-up will receive one $25 gift card for the SCBWI Member Bookstore
Why $55?
We pay our mentors and judges an honorarium for the hours of work they put in. This fee helps to cover the cost of these fees and the awards.
Doesn’t my membership cover these costs?
Yes and no. All membership dues are paid to SCBWI International, not SCBWI-MI. Our budget is determined by the income we receive for our regional conferences, webinars, intensives, critiques, etc.
I have more questions!
Check out our mentorship homepage for all the information about our upcoming mentorship, the new mentor, eligibility requirements, submission instructions, FAQs, and more.