WOOP! A Grant Just for SCBWI Regional Advisors

If you've been involved in SCBWI for any length of time, you certainly know the value of Regional Advisors. RA is a voluntary position and involves but is not limited to: coordination of local volunteers; planning regional conference and events; fielding questions and concerns from regional members; assisting with the Annual Conferences (registration, speaker introductions); keeping up with and disseminating news and policies from SCBWI HQ; and much, much more.

And let me tell you, it's not an easy job. (I had a unspectacular run as an RA for Southern Ohio in the early '90s, so I speak from experience. Putting together CWIM was so much easier.) Regional Advisors are dedicated volunteers who help other creative people realize their dreams while they pursue their own.

So I'm truly happy to announce that SCBWI has just created a new award exclusively for Regional Advisors, Assistant Regional Advisors, and Illustrator Coordinators! Starting in 2011, SCBWI will present two Works Of Outstanding Promise (WOOP) awards of $1500 each.

"We realize there is so much talent in this amazing pool of people, and we want to give RAs both a reward for service and a leg up on getting their work published," said Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser. "The WOOP will be given to a work in progress, and the application and judging will be very similar to our current WIP form. The difference is that these are reserved exclusively for RAs. Winning one of the WIP grants has given many people both the resources to finish their work and a real path to publication. We hope the WOOP awards will do the same for RAs."

WOOP application forms will be available online on around January 1st, judging will take place in May, and the winners will be announced at the SCBWI Annual Summer Conference in August.

Hooray for RAs! If you haven't done so lately, thank yours for all she or he does for SCBWI and your regions. (Here's a link to SCBWI regions and their Advisors.)

Author Carla McClafferty to Read & Sign at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in June

If Carla McClafferty is any indication, the life of nonfiction/biography author is full of excitement!

Carla, award winning author and former SCBWI Regional Advisor for Arkansas, will be signing copies of her book IN DEFIANCE OF HITLER: THE SECRET MISSION OF VARIAN FRY at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. on June 25 from 1-4 PM. Carla will also be presenting the keynote speech to the American Association of School Librarians luncheon at ALA on June 28 in D.C.

Here's a bit of Varian Fry's amazing story in Carla's words:

"My book, IN DEFIANCE OF HITLER: THE SECRET MISSION OF VARIAN FRY, is about an American Holocaust rescuer named Varian Fry. Fry volunteered to travel to war-torn France in 1940 in order to help trapped refugees escape from Europe. In the beginning, the plan was that he would stay for two weeks and assist specific intellectuals who were in danger. However, when he arrived in Marseilles, France, the situation was more complex than he expected, so he ultimately stayed there for 13 months, during which time he lived a double life. On the surface he ran the American Relief Center as a cover for his under-cover purpose of helping refugees escape. He saved the lives of more than 2000 people including famous people such as Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Otto Meyerhof, Hannah Arendt and many others.

Varian Fry was the first of only three Americans honored at the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as 'Righteous Among the Nations' an honor given to gentiles who risked their own life to save the life of Jewish people during the Holocaust."

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) supplied many photographs that Carla used in her book. On 2009 she did a presentation about Varian Fry for the employees of the USHMM bookstore (where her book is sold) and they suggested she come back for a book signing event.

Last year she was also invited to Marseilles, France, to participate in a conference about Varian Fry held in the new building at a High School which was named after him. While in Marseilles, Carla did a presentation to an English class at the High School, and spoke at the American Consulate.

While she's in D.C. for the June events, Carla will be spending three days at Mount Vernon to research her upcoming book THE MANY FACES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON: REMAKING A PRESIDENTIAL ICON, out from Carolrhoda in 2011. Her other acclaimed titles include SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING: MARIE CURIE AND RADIUM (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006), THE HEAD BONE'S CONNECTED TO THE NECK BONE: THE WEIRD, WACKY AND WONDERFUL X-RAY (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001); and FORGIVING GOD.