SCBWI Announces the 2010 Magazine Merit Award Winners

Writing for children's magazines is not something I've seen much coverage of in the blogsphere (my old blog included) and that's too bad. The magazine market for young readers is a great place for writers (of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and more) and illustrators to have their work published. There are lots of children's magazines (nearly 75 in the current SCBWI market survey) and they publish frequently so there's always a need for fresh material.

Writing for kids' magazines takes special skills, whether crafting a short piece of fiction or coming up with a unique angle for a nonfiction piece. And illustrators must be able to capture the essence of these pieces in sometimes just a single illustration.

Each year SCBWI honors talented writers and artists who create material for children's magazine with the Magazine Merit Awards. SCBWI HQ has just announced the 2010 recipients. Winners--whose work exhibits excellence and genuine appeal to the interests and concerns of young people--receive Merit Plaques and Honor Certificates for fiction, nonfiction, illustration and poetry which appeared in magazines during the past year. SCBWI also sends Letters of Merit to runners-up.

The Plaque and Honor recipients are:

FICTION

• Sue Anderson (Plaque) for "Respectfully, Robert E. Lee" (July/August issue of CRICKET)
• Rozanne Silverwood (Honor) for "The Star That Fell to Earth and Became a Tree" (January CRICKET)

NONFICTION

• Patricia Nikolina Clark (Plaque) for "Ants in Their Pants" (September/October CICADA) 
• Sue Cowing (Honor) for "Insects of the World of Art" (September CRICKET)

ILLUSTRATION

• Bonnie Leick (Plaque) for her illustration "Music in the Dark" (August HIGHLIGHTS)
• Bethanie Murguia (Honor) for "Egg Hunt" in (March YOUR BIG BACK YARD)

POETRY

• Jeanne Hargett (Plaque) for "No Secret" (March HIGHTLIGHTS) 
• Jacqueline Jules (Honor) for "Morning Monster" (May/June CRICKET)

Congratulations to all the winners! For those of you who write or illustrate for magazines, the 2010 competition is now underway. For rules and information on how to enter (as well as a list of current and past winners) visit the SCBWI website.