SCBWI Announces 2016 Book Launch Award Winners
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is pleased to announce the winner of the 2015 SCBWI Book Launch Award. The annual award, established by the SCBWI in 2012, provides authors or illustrators with $2,000 in funds to supplement the promotion and marketing of newly published works for children.
Congratulations to Nancy Bo Flood whose winning book, Soldier Sisters, Fly Home (Charlesbridge), is the story of two sisters living on the Navajo Nation in Arizona, and the tensions that arise when one of them enlists in the US Army. Flood proposes to use her grant to visit Navajo schools, both to promote writing and literacy and to show students a positive portrayal of their own culture in contemporary literature.
“This grant is a special opportunity for me to share Soldier Sister, Fly Home with Native American students through book talks and writing workshops. I want to encourage and support students’ own writing. Less than 1% of books published for children are about contemporary American Indians. Every child should see themselves-their stories, their landscape, and their people-in a book.” Nancy Bo Flood on the impact of this award.
Congratulations to Kathleen Burkinshaw, the Honor Award winner for The Last Cherry Blossom (Sky Pony Press), a twelve-year-old’s account of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Burkinshaw’s promotional plan involves arranging readings at Japanese-American societies, participating in regional book festivals and creating a teacher’s guide.
“In today’s publishing world, most books need help to be discovered and find an audience,” SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver said.
More information can be found at www.scbwi.org/awards/book-launch-grant.
About SCBWI
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Founded in 1971, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is one of the largest existing writers’ and illustrators’ organizations, with over 22,000 members worldwide. It is the only organization specifically for those working in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television, and multimedia. The organization was founded by Stephen Mooser (President) and Lin Oliver (Executive Director), both of whom are well-published children’s book authors and leaders in the world of children’s literature. |
