NEW! Margaret Wise Brown Award!

You may know that I teach at Hollins University in the MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating as well as the Certificate in Children's Book Illustration programs every summer.
     Well, we are thrilled to announce that Hollins has received a gift of $60,000 from James Rockefeller, Margaret Wise Brown’s (a Hollins alum) fiancĂ© (at the time of her death), to establish the Margaret Wise Brown Award for the best published picture book text, with the first award to be given at the Francelia Butler Conference in 2016, for a picture book published in 2015.
     This annual award will carry a $1,000 cash prize plus travel to Hollins (in Roanoke, Virginia) to accept the award and give a reading, and a bronze medal with a portrait of Ms. Brown on one side, and the recipient’s name and year awarded on the reverse.
     There is no comparable award for picture book writers. The Caldecott is for illustration, the Newbery rarely (although occasionally) goes to picture books, and the Charlotte Zolotow, and other awards for picture book text, do not include monetary winnings. So we are very proud of this new award!
     Publishers - if you would like your picture books to be considered, please contact Amanda Cockrel, founding director of the children's literature graduate program at Hollins University for further details.

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