SCBWI ILF Awards Open This Fall
The SCBWI Impact and Legacy Fund has three awards opening this fall!
The Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World opens on September 1st, 2025. This award is for a children’s book for any age group that inspires readers to make the world a better place. To be eligible for this award, the books must be:
- Submitted by their author, illustrator, or translator
- Traditionally published (not hybrid or self-published)
- Published any time in 2025
- Nonfiction
Submitters do not have to be SCBWI members to be eligible.
The winning book will receive $2,500 in prize money. If the book is illustrated, the prize is to be split evenly between the author and illustrator. The same goes for works in translation.
Check out the award’s website to learn more about how to apply.
Application information for the Encouragement Fund and the Charlotte and Wilbur Award for Compassion for Animals.
The Encouragement Fund will reopen on September 15th, 2025. This grant gives out three no-strings-attached prizes of $2,000 to children’s book authors each year. To be eligible, the submitters must:
- Submit applications on behalf of themselves
- Have at least one traditionally published book of any genre
- Be an author or translator
- Be working on a book of humor—either a chapter book, or middle grade or young adult book. No picture books this time around.
Of this year's award, founder Stephen Fraser says:
"The Encouragement Fund will focus this year on humor in children's books, either in chapter books, middle-grade, or young adult. In contemporary life, humor is needed more than ever. French writer Romain Gary was quoted as saying, "Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's superiority of all that befalls him." Giving young people the ability to face daily life's challenges with humor—and hence dignity—is a gift we should give them. Writing humor, of course, is not easy; it requires both skill and affection. And we celebrate with gratitude those who make the effort to create children's books with that important element of humor."
You do not have to be an SCBWI member to apply.
Check out The Encouragement Fund’s website for more information on how to apply.
Additionally, the Charlotte and Wilbur Award for Compassion for Animals will open for submissions on October 1st, 2025.
This award is for a children’s book of any genre, for any age group, that teaches its readers compassion for animals. Eligible books do not have to be traditionally published.
Past winners have included City Sings Green written by Erica Silverman, illustrated by Ginnie Hsu, Home Is Calling: The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly written by Katherine Pryor, illustrated by Ellie Peterson, and The Wildes 2: The Vaquita written by Roland Smith.
Check the award’s website for more information on how to apply.