Awards: Stephen Mooser Member of The Year Award, Scholarship Winners

Stephen Mooser Member Of The Year Award

Avery Udagawa

Avery gave an inspiring acceptance speech in which she emphasized the importance of naming translators on/in books. Do read Avery's guest post on the ALSC Blog. An excerpt: "Philip Nel has argued that obscuring the race of books’ characters by whitewashing covers reflects, and perpetuates, white supremacy. Similarly, I would submit that omitting the author’s language and/or translator’s name—usually to hide that a book is a translation—amounts to English-washing that perpetuates English supremacy."

General Scholarship Winners

Upasna Kakroo

Miral Khalil

BIPOC Scholarship Winners

Isabella Chen

Johari Mitchell

Li Wang

Student Illustrator Scholarship (SIS) Winners

Cara Ziruo Wang

Elle Liu

Congrats to all winners!

And the SCBWI Stephen Mooser Member of the Year Award Winner Is...

Natascha Biebow and Stephen Mooser

... Natascha Biebow, who is the regional advisor for the British Isles, and—we kid you not—the recipient of an honor from Her Majesty the Queen. Natascha is also the author of The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons.

Congratulations to Natascha, and thank you for your hard work on behalf of children's writers and illustrators. 

Pat Cummings is the 2017 SCBWI Member of the Year!

Pat Cummings accepts her  2017 SCBWI Member of The Year Award

Pat Cummings is the author/illustrator of over thirty-five books for young readers...

The editor of the award-winning series Talking With Artists, which profiles prominent children's book illustrators...

A teacher at Parsons and Pratt, and her children's book illustration class has a growing number of notable illustrator/authors among its graduates...

A member of the SCBWI Board of Advisors...

A member of the boards of the Authors Guild, the Authors League Fund and the Authors Guild Foundation...

A champion of Diversity, WeNeedDiverseBooks, and Literacy...

And now, Pat Cummings is our 2017 SCBWI Member of the Year – Congratulations, Pat!

The 2016 SCBWI Member of the Year is...

Florida RA Linda Bernfeld!

As Lin said of Linda, "She's launched more careers... than you could count."

The standing ovation for Linda

Congratulations, Linda!

A well-deserved honor

On a personal note, I'm so delighted for Linda, who gets the crown after me…

Okay, while it doesn't come with a Tiara, winning SCBWI Member of the Year is a huge honor, and I'm so happy for you -- Congratulations!

Member of the Year 2014: Ellen Hopkins

This year's Member of the Year award goes to Ellen Hopkins.

This awarded is given to someone who has served the SCBWI in a enormous capacity. Ellen has certainly done exactly that. She has served for many year's as one of Nevada's Regional Advisors and she continues to sit on the SCBWI board.

Her dedication to the industry, this organization, and to her teen readers is unparalleled.

Congratulations, Ellen. This a much deserved honor.

SCBWI Member of the Year: Alexis O'Neill

Alexis O'Neill, author

The SCBWI has a huge number of volunteers who make an extraordinary difference for the children's writing community.

This year's Member of the Year is Alexis O'Neill, who writes picture books and a column for the SCBWI Bulletin. She also has a PhD in teacher education. She's been a volunteer for the organization for 18 years in the Central California Coastal Region, whom she thanked for their enthusiasm.

Traditionally, Alexis starts every conference with a song. Lin made her bust out her pipes as she accepted the award.

"All I know is a really raunchy sea shanty," Alexis said, with understandable reluctance the audience overrode.

She taught us the one who do when you hoist the anchor (we think that's not a euphemism). She sang. We said, "Yaa!" at appropriate intervals. And we meant it in every way. Congratulations and thanks, Alexis!

SCBWI Member of the Year

Each year SCBWI honors a member who gives of their time and heart to this wonderful organization and community in extraordinary ways. This year's SCBWI Member of the Year is:

Suzanne Morgan Williams

Congratulations, Suzy! This is a most deserved honor.

Michelle Parker-Rock is the 2011 SCBWI Member of the Year!

Regional Advisor for Arizona, Michelle Parker-Rock is the author of over a dozen books (including her most recent series, Authors Kids Love), a contributing writer to the SCBWI Bulletin, a tireless advocate and powerhouse volunteer!

Here we talk about her being honored as SCBWI Member of the Year:

2011 SCBWI Member of the Year

Huge congratulations to Michelle Parker-Rock for winning this year's Member of the Year Award.

Michelle is long-time Regional Advisor of the Arizona region and author of many books for kids.

"SCBWI, I love you," says a shocked Michelle.

SCBWI Member of Year: Christopher Cheng

This is a special post for me, as this honor was given to me and my cohort and friend, Sara Easterly, last year. 

This year's SCBWI Member of the Year Honor goes to Christopher Cheng, co-regional advisor of Australia and New Zealand.

As a former regional advisor, I have been witness to Chris's dedication and passion for this organization and industry. This award is much deserved.

Like Sara and I, Chris was surprised with this honor, and as I watched him take the stage, a lump of gratitude returned to my throat, and I knew he was feeling the same.

Congratulation, Chris!