Scholarship Opportunity

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Western Washington, is thrilled to announce that it will award two inclusion scholarships, one for writers, one for illustrators, as part of this year’s spring conference. The award covers the cost to attend programming on April 8, 2017, at the Marriott Redmond Town Center.
 
Eligible applicants should be age 18 or older, write or illustrate for children, meet one of the criteria for diversity defined by We Need Diverse Books, and have financial need such that attending this conference would not otherwise be possible. Applicants do not need to be current members of SCBWI, nor do they need to live in the Western Washington region, although travel and accommodations will not be included in the award.
 
What is meant by “diverse”?
Writers and illustrators must identify as one or more of the following. The main character of the story must also identify as one or more of the following:
•       Person of color
•       Native American
•       LGBTQIA
•       Person with a disability
•       Marginalized religious or cultural minority in the United States.
Please note:
•       If the work does not include a main character, the subject matter must pertain substantially to diverse experiences and content.
•       Socio-economic status and class do not qualify as diverse for the purposes of this award.
 
Any submission received that does not meet these requirements will not be read.
 
To enter, applicants should provide the following information via email to wwa@scbwi.org, subject line Scholarship Application, by midnight on February 28, 2017:
Both writers and illustrators must provide a cover page that includes:

o   Full name

o   Address

o   E-mail address

o   Phone number

o   Diversity with which the applicant identifies

o   Whether the applicant is an author or illustrator

•       A one-page statement of work describing how attending the conference will help your career objectives and what your current project is about.
•       In addition, writers must also provide the first 500 words of your manuscript (or full picture book manuscript of less than 500 words).
•       In addition, illustrators must provide one to three illustrations from the work in progress (no more than 5MB in size).
 
Applicants will be chosen based on how well their work promotes and contributes to diversity in children’s literature.
 
Click here to download a printable flyer for the event.