Wednesday, September 21, 2011

SCBWI's 2011 Sue Alexander Award Goes To...

Sue Alexander
Each year, SCBWI offers the Sue Alexander Award to the manuscript deemed most promising for publication, selected from the SCBWI Annual Summer Conference critique pool.

Industry professionals (editors, agents, authors) who critique the manuscript determine the finalists. Until her sudden death in July, 2008, Sue Alexander made the final selection. Now, a three-member panel from Sue’s writing group of 20 years decide on the winner.

This year's Sue Alexandar Award-winner is Marilyn Hilton for her middle-grade manuscript HOVER OVER ME.

In Hilton’s lovely, well-written manuscript, a girl who longs to believe in angels, “being in vital need of their assistance” endures bullying, wonders about her birth parents, makes an unexpected friend and tries to solve the mystery of the crime for which her missing brother has been falsely accused. Along the way, she learns something about the nature of angels. A sensitive voice, evocative detail, a rich sense of place, strong tension, intriguing characters with compelling problems and a satisfying theme all combine to make author Hilton’s manuscript a promising novel for middle-grade readers.
 
Award Winner Marilyn Hilto
Two runners-up were also named:
  • Pati Hailey for FINDING TRU 
  • Karen Bonner for WITCHING MOON.
Congratulations to Marilyn, Pati and Karen for their terrific work!

To learn more about the award and see a list of past winners, visit SCBWI.org.

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Congratulations to the Not-So-Much-Lucky-But-Rather-Agonizing-Over-Their-Manuscripts-(And-We-ALL-Know-About-That,-Don't-We-Folks)-Hard-Ass-Working-Writers!!!!

Please excuse the James Joycean convolution of punctuation upstairs, and chalk it up to the enthusiasm I have for ANY fellow writer who snags some well-deserved (and hard-earned) recognition for the craft.

We all spend enough hard hours at our desks, that when ANY of us win, we ALL win, at least in MY "book." (Ha ha. Yep. Little joke.)

(Eeven those many hours "lateral thinking" as we CLEAN them - no matter WHO says we're procrastinating. Yep. Another little joke.)

Seriously: Rock on, writers! Let's hear it for printed books! And writers! Getting awarded! And PAID!

You GO!

All the best.

-elizabeth williams bushey

Charmaine Clancy said...

Sounds like a lovely novel :)
Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers

Deborah Halverson said...

Congratulations to all three!

Gwendolyn Hooks said...

Congratulations to all three, but especially to Pati Hailey, my critique partner and best friend.