Contests & Awards
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| © Sheila Keegan |
Submitting your work to contests and awards is a great way to get your work noticed. Here's a list of submission opportunities for children's writing and illustrating. We normally only list contests that do not require an entry fee.
Also, check out these other compilations of contests:
- Sub It Club's monthly lists of contests (see their contest roundup calendar)
- Funds for Writers
- Lee & Low's roundup of Awards & Grants for Authors of Color
- Institute for Children's Literature runs contests (for fee)
- Poet & Writer's Database of Writing Contests (includes fee contests)
Before entering a contest, pay attention to warning signs:Writing Contests are Important: How to Choose the Right Ones from the Scams; Awards Profiteers: How Writers Can Recognize Them and Why They Should Avoid Them
James Cross Giblin Scholarship for Highlights Foundations courses
What I Gained from Contests (Besides my Agent)
Draw This!
- What: monthly illustration challenge with a prompt, due 20th of each month
- Who: SCBWI members
- Prize: winning pieces featured in SCBWI's monthly newsletter
ONGONG
- What: apply for emergency funds during the pandemic
- Who: people of color in the children's publishing industry (agents, editors, authors, illustrators) who've been furloughed or lost their jobs
- Award: emergency funds
September
Sept. 1 SCBWI Bologna Scholarship
- What: submit 3-4 images representative of your illustration style
- Who: SCBWI member
- Award: Two winners will each receive a ticket to the Bologna Book Fair, travel fare, and a stipend for accommodations. Winners will have an opportunity to show their portfolios to publishing professionals, display their portfolio at our industry party in Bologna, and attend the prestigious fair.
Sept. 10-12 #Pitchdis
- What: pitch your complete manuscript to agents and editors on the #Pitchdis website (password protected for agents/editors)
- Who: writers who identify has disabled, neurodivergent, and/or chronically ill
- Award: interest from agents or editors
Sept. 15-22 #LatinxPitch
- What: pitch your complete manuscript to agents and editors on the #LatinxPitch website
- Who: un-agented and agented kid lit Latinx authors, illustrators, and author-illustrators
- Prize: agent or editor interest (Sept. 23-27)
July 1-Sept 15 Russell Freedman Award for Nonfiction for a Better World
- What: submit your traditionally published nonfiction book for children or young adults
- Award: $2500 plus $500 to purchase copies for schools and libraries
July 1- Sept. 15 The ILF Encouragement Fund
- What: apply for a grant to continue or finish a middle grade novel
- Who: a traditionally published author working on a middle grade novel
- Award: $2000
Sept. 21-25 #PitBlk
- What: pitch your completed manuscript on the #PitBlk website
- Who: authors of African descent (Black people, both indigenous to Africa and of global diaspora)
- Prize: interest from agents/editors (Sept. 30-Oct 4)
October
Oct. 1-3 Kid Lit GN Pitch Event (#KidlitGN)
- What: pitch your kid lit graphic novel project (upload pitches Oct 1-3, pitch stays live the month of October)
- Award: potential interest from editors and agents
November
- What: submit a brief cover letter with the name of your proposed book, a 1-2 paragraph synopsis, your publication timeline, a short bio, a 1 page business plan of how the grant money will used, and 2-3 sentences about why you have chosen to self-publish this book.
- Who: SCBWI members
- Award: $2500 to offset the costs of self-publishing
Nov. 30 #QuestPit
- What: a writer hype event where you pitch your work/manuscript (any stage) to get attention and support
- Who: anyone
- Prize: support from fellow creators, possible agent/editor interest