Announcing The Karen and Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award

Newbery Winner Karen Cushman

This is exciting!  Karen Cushman was 53 when she published her first children's book, Catherine Called Birdy (a Newbery Honor Book.)

She won the 1996 Newbery Medal for The Midwife's Apprentice, and has since published six more wonderful novels... and counting!

As Karen says on her website,

"It took me forty-nine years of preparation—of reading and writing and making up stories in my head—to be ready to write. Now I do not intend to stop." 

The SCBWI is proud to announce our newest grant award to, as Karen put it,

 "...encourage and celebrate late bloomers like me, who didn't start to write until age fifty. But then I bloomed, and I'd love to see others do so as well." 

The winner will receive $500 in cash, and free tuition to any worldwide SCBWI conference.  The first winner will be selected this year and announced along with the other Work-in-Progress Grant recipients.  Because this grant was started after the applications were due, SCBWI will be contacting finalists to see if they are eligible for this additional award.

For future years, you won't apply directly for this award, rather it will be chosen from among the Work-in-Progress grant entrees.  To enter you will indicate on your application that you are over 50 and would like to be considered for the award.

It's wonderful to have a luminary in our world of Children's Literature reaching out to help others bloom, too!

Make sure to check out all the awards and grants offered by SCBWI on the main SCBWI website here.

Illustrate and Write On, 
Lee