Every Poster Has a Story: The Scoop on the First-Ever Golden Kite Awards Poster

SCBWI recently unveiled its first-ever poster featuring winners of the organization's coveted annual Golden Kite Awards. The debut poster was beautifully illustrated by John Parra, 2010 Golden Kite winner for picture book illustration.

"We asked John to illustrate the poster for two reasons—one, because we knew his style would be absolutely perfect for the poster art. Second, because we hoped to start a tradition that the winner of the Picture Book Illustration category of the Golden Kite Award would illustrate the poster to commemorate the following year's winners," says Sarah Baker, SCBWI's Manager of Illustration and Design.

"John needed very little in the way of suggestions or notes. We just told him the poster was to celebrate the next year of Golden Kite winners, the dimensions of the poster of course, and that it should feature the kite somewhere. He took it upon himself to add an image representing each winning book, a really great touch!"

"Working on the Golden Kite Poster was a wonderful and great thrill for me," says John Parra. "The concept comes from when I received my Golden Kite Award from SCBWI in 2010 for the book, GRACIAS/THANKS, and how I felt a soaring emotion like the bird in the poster. The child characters in the image represent us all taking that wonderful journey into literature and art that we collectively celebrate and cherish. Many of the other icons and imagery that surround these main characters are sample images representing each of this year's 2011 Golden Kite winners. I always enjoy seeing the final print when type is added and I was honored to have it presented at this year's SCBWI 40th Annual Summer Conference in Los Angeles."

"I absolutely fell in love with John's art from the moment I saw the first sketch, and finding typefaces and designing the poster around his art was so much fun. It was thrilling when his painting arrived in the mail, and thrilling once again to see the finished printed poster," says Sarah. "Presenting it in front of the 1,300 attendees at the Golden Kite Award Luncheon was more terrifying than anything, but so much fun to see how much everyone else loved the poster as much as we did. This was a great start to an annual tradition of Golden Kite Award celebration posters, and I can't wait to work on next year's!"

SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver adds: “We hope this beautiful poster will not only honor the outstanding books that have won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, but will go a long way to expanding the public visibility and sales of these deserving books. We want to see their names highly visible to the reading public.”