And the 2014 Spark Award Winners Are...

Recognizing excellence in a children's book published through a non-traditional publishing route, there are three 2014 winners. And they are...


For Illustrated book,

My Twelve Maine Christmas Days by Wendy Ulmer and illustrated by Sandy Crabtree. 

 Come discover the gifts of the twelve Maine Christmas days beautifully portrayed in watercolors. Maine’s breathtaking natural beauty highlights the story, based on the traditional Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

 Wendy Ulmer has been an SCBWI member for over twenty years and is the founder of wooly moon books and wooly moon studio. Learn more about Wendy Ulmer and order the book at www.wendyulmer.com.



The two 2014 winners for a book for older readers are...

The Men Who Made the Yankees by W. Nikola-Lisa and

Melt by Selene Castrovilla. 

The Men Who Made the Yankees is a fascinating look at the New York Yankees baseball team follows the rise of the American League starting in the mid-1890’s to the team’s first World Series championship in 1923.

W. Nikola-Lisa is a freelance writer with over twenty books to his name. His love of baseball and work on a historical fiction novel, Dear Frank: Babe Ruth, the Red Sox, and the Great War, inspired him to write this enthralling nonfiction. Learn more about this book and others at www.nikolabooks.com.

 Melt centers around the spellbinding romance of Joey and Dorothy enduring peer pressure, devastating family secrets, and substance abuse. Can they navigate the yellow brick road back to the safety of home?

 Selene Castrovilla is the award-winning author of The Girl Next Door and Saved by the Music, both young adult novels. She is also the author of three picture books: Revolutionary Friends, Upon Secrecy, and By the Sword. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Visit www.selenecastrovilla.com.


You can find out more about the Spark Award here.

Congratulations to the winners, and look for interviews with them coming up, right here at The Official SCBWI Blog!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee