The Children's Book Council's Early Career Committee (ECC) is dedicated to enriching the careers of those in their first five years in the children’s publishing industry, contributing to the vitality of the industry as a whole, and fostering literacy. Learn more

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Mission and History

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Helping you take the next step up in your career in children’s publishing!

Mission

The Children’s Book Council’s Early Career Committee (ECC) is dedicated to enriching the careers of those in their first five years in the children’s publishing industry, contributing to the vitality of the industry as a whole, and fostering literacy.

Our programs include:

  • The Annual Extreme Trivia Challenge
  • Career enrichment programming,  including panels and seminars
  • Networking opportunities such as happy hours
  • Opportunities to volunteer for literacy  initiatives
  • The ECC Newsletter, which features interviews, industry news, job moves, and more

If you are an employee of a CBC member publisher and you would like to be added to the ECC mailing list, please e-mail cbc.info@cbcbooks.org.

More About Our Signature Programs

Extreme Trivia Challenge
Every November, randomly-chosen teams of industry staffers prove their minutiae mettle in the Extreme Trivia Challenge — the Early Career Committee’s annual head-to-head test of knowledge and endurance in the quest for the coveted Golden Bunny trophies! All staff of CBC member publishers are welcome to attend. Come snack, drink, meet your colleagues — and trounce them with your children’s literature prowess.

Publishing Luminaries
This series provides opportunities for those young to publishing to engage and collaborate with industry veterans. Previous events have included:

  • A conversation with Disney Hyperion editor Stephanie Lurie and author/illustrator John Rocco (see pictures on the ECC’s Facebook page)
  • A book design panel featuring art and creative directors from Schwartz & Wade, Viking, Scholastic, and First Second

History

Early Career Committee Members
Early Career Committee Members and Mo Willems don their “Bunny Bling” at the 2006 Annual ECC Extreme Trivia Challenge
(From L to R: Martha Mihalick, Beth Barton, Molly O’Neill, Mo Willems, Colleen AF Venable, and Heather Scott)

The CBC Early Career Committee was founded in 2004 by the Children’s Book Council (CBC), the national nonprofit trade association for children’s book publishers.

In the inaugural issue of the ECC Newsletter (formerly known as BOLDFACE), the editors summed up their admiration for their fellow young publishing staffers as follows,

“According to extremely high-tech studies, if you take 98% of all people who photocopy all day, put them together with the 2% of all people who can name at least three hundred furry quadruped protagonists, then multiply that number by the number of pages in all six Harry Potter books, subtract the number of Newberys where dogs died, divide that by the number of novels Diana Wynne Jones writes in one single day, add up the amount of time it’s taken you to do this ridiculous math, and then, just MAYBE then, you’ll come close to the amount of devoted, brilliant young staff in the children’s book industry.”

This camaraderie is at the heart of every event and opportunity that the Early Career Committee plans today.

Boldface comic
BOLDFACE comic from 2006 written by Colleen AF Venable and drawn by Carol Burrell

Golden Bunnies!Golden Bunny Lore!

Ever wondered about the origin of the coveted golden bunny trophies given to the champions of the ECC’s Extreme Trivia Challenge each year?

Back in Colleen AF Venable’s assistant days at the CBC (she’s now a designer for First Second Books!), she hatched the idea of golden bunny trophies for the trivia champions, “because seriously how often did us geeky book nerds get to win trophies growing up?” Fun facts: 1) the trophies were originally designed as prizes for the 4-H kid contestant with the fattest bunny, 2) the golden bunnies are always engraved “Champion Know-it-All” or “Second Place Know-it-All”.

 

 

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