The 2021 Golden Kite Award and Sid Fleischman Award winners are...

For best illustrated book for older readers, the nominees were:

the honoree is Mike Curato for "Flamer"!

As part of his award, Mike has donated to the nonprofit Trevor Project.

And the winner is Uri Shilevitz, for "Chance"!

Uri Shilevitz (lower) accepting the Golden Kite Award for best illustrated book for older readers.

As part of his award, Uri has donated to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Uri has a message for the writers who didn't win...

One: don't give up. Two: Keep Writing. Three: You will be the next winner.

Lisa Yee introduces the five finalists for Middle Grade/Young Reader Fiction:

The honor winner is Kimberly Brubaker Bradley for "Fighting Words"

And the winner of the Golden Kite award for best middle grade/young reader fiction is Renée Watson, winner for Ways to Make Sunshine! 

Renee addresses her god-daughter Ryan (and all of us), saying

"I wrote this book for you and girls like you, because you deserve to see Black girls on the cover of books... Your story matters."

Renée has selected World Stage Theater for the charitable contribution connected with her award.

Next is the picture book text category. Meg Medina (lower right) introduces the finalists:

The honor winner is Carole Lindstrom, for "We Are Water Protectors."

And the winner of the Golden Kite Award for best picture book text is Tami Charles, "All Because You Matter."

Tami remember "stars in my eyes" at last year's Golden Kite Awards... Never imagining she'd be accepting this award this year - in her basement! Telling her illustrator Bryan Collier, "your art is a gift I will pass onto my family for generations."

next is the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction text for Younger Readers, and Lesa Cline-Ransome introduces the five finalists:

The honor award goes to Meeg Pincus for "Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery"

The winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction text for younger readers is Don Tate for "William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad"!

Don shares in his acceptance speech about being part of SCBWI from the late 1980s! He appreciates especially being recognized for the book's text, admitting "I have not always been confident in my words" and saying how much this means for him.

Speaking as a Black creator of works for children, in an industry where he's often felt invisible, Don tells us, "please know that tonight... I feel seen. Thank you for seeing me and recognizing me."

Don Tate (lower) accepts his Golden Kite Award

And Don's nonprofit donation attached to the award will be shared by We Need Diverse Books and the Brown Bookshelf's Black creators fund, and the Highlights Foundation's Amplify Black Voices Program. Both work to make more Black creators published

Next is the award for picture book illustration. Pat Cummings presents the five finalists...

The honor winner is Cindy Derby for "Outside In," written by Deborah Underwood

And the winner is Catia Chien for "The Bear and the Moon" written by Matthew Burgess 

Catia tells us about her first SCBWI conference ten years ago, "for me, to win this Golden Kite award today, is just icing on the SCBWI cake." 

Catia's charity is Heart of Dinner.

Now there's the category Nonfiction Text for Older Readers. The finalists are presented by Linda Sue Park...

The honor winner is Paul Fleischman, for "Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word"!

And the winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for best nonfiction text for older readers is Christina Soontornvat for "All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team"!

Christina says, "All Thirteen" is, at its heart about community and being there for each other. She thanks the SCBWI Austin community especially. She tells us about visiting Thailand to do research and interviews. She speaks of not finding any books that reflected her Thai heritage when she was a child, not to mention any by Thai creators. And she tells us, "One of my most essential tools in writing... was my Thai heritage." She calls for more support of #ownvoices creators and nonfiction work for kids and teens.

The donation made possible by Christina's winning the Golden Kite award is going to the Mirror foundation.

The last Golden Kite Award category is for young adult fiction, and the finalists are presented by Stacey Lee... 

The honor winner is Darcie Little Badger for "Elatsoe"!

The Golden Kite Award for Young Adult fiction goes to Sherri L. Smith for "The Blossom and the Firefly"!

Sherri L. Smith (at right) accepting the SCBWI Golden Kite Award

Sherri tells us writing her book "was an attempt to understand both sides of the conflict." And of visiting Japan and the research and kindness and help she experienced there. She calls SCBWI "my first literary home." and says, "The Blossom and the Firefly is dedicated to peace..."

The Los Angeles regional food bank is the recipient of the donation in honor of Sherri's Golden Kite win. 

Next is the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor. The five finalists are presented by Arthur A. Levine...

The honor winner is Kristin O’Donnell Tubb for "Zeus, Dog of Chaos"!

And the winner of the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor is Donna Barba Higuera for "Lupe Wong Won’t Dance"!

Donna Barba Higuera (lower) accepts the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor

Donna thanks her family, and then her writing family, her new family of Latinx writers, her agency family, and the family at Levine Querido, and SCBWI. "you've given me so much since I joined ten years ago.... Her husband "Yes, you provided a dating service" and her editor she connected with both at SCBWI conferences.

Donna's nonprofits who will receive a donation on behalf of her win are ¡Colorín colorado! and Young Inklings.

Lin thanks the 25 judges, and the coordinator of the Golden Kite Awards, Bonnie Bader.

SCBWI member and author illustrator Jim Averbeck has done interviews with each winning and honor recipients - a virtual gold carpet. You can watch them next, or posted on SCBWI's archive 24 hours from now...

There's a final toast:

And that's the awards gala highlights!

(Now we all have more books to read!)

All the finalists, honor, and winning books are available at https://bookshop.org/shop/SCBWI

The Golden Kite Awards are LIVE - and online with 6,000 of us watching!

Lin Oliver, co-founder and Executive Director of SCBWI, introduces the evening's festivities, telling us that among the 6,000 of us attending are folks from all 50 of the US states and 60 countries, and every continent except Antarctica...

Lin Oliver (left) with sign language interpreter Jennye Kamin at right.

Tonight there will be eight awards presented - announcing the one honor and one winner in each category.

But first, a heartfelt message from childhood literacy advocate, parent, and actor Jennifer Garner, about how our books help children feel "all the feelings, big and small."

Jennifer Garner's special message to viewers of the 2021 SCBWI Golden Kite Awards

And now, let's see who the honorees and winners will be!

Champagne and Chocolate-Covered Strawberries, Award-Winning Authors Singing Their Books, and The Portfolios!

The wonderful #NY20SCBWI Golden Kite Awards evening finale...

First time attendee Megan in line to buy her haul of newly hailed award-winning books

Miranda Paul, Zainab Khan, and Edna Cabcabin Moran sparkle in front of the evening's step-and-repeat

Padma Venkatraman signs her Golden Kite Award winning book

Remy Lai signs her Sid Fleischman Humor Award Winning Book

View 1 of 3 of the buzzing portfolio showcase room

View 2 of 3

View 3 of 3

What an evening! The conference, #NY20SCBWI continues tomorrow...

Quote highlights from the 2020 Golden Kite Award Acceptance Speeches!

THIS YEAR'S GOLDEN KITE AWARD WINNERS AND HIGHLIGHT QUOTES FROM THEIR ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES...



Young Reader and Middle Grade Fiction: Padma Venkatraman, for The Bridge Home (Nancy Paulsen Books)

Padma spoke of her childhood, of the challenges of a friend who hid in a cemetery night after night to escape the men who wanted to enslave her, who asked Padma because Padma was a child who loved to write,

“Padma, will you write my story one day?

Yes. I promise. It's taken me forty years, but this [is that] book.”
—Padma Venkatraman

Picture Book Text: Ashley Benham Yazdani, for A Green Place to Be: The Creation of Central Park (Candlewick)

“The ripples of one single park changed the way” America related to public spaces. How will the park look in 100 years? If nothing changes, it will be “a lot hotter, a lot wetter, a lot emptier.” Like the creators of central park, “We [too] stand at a tipping point of industry and its impact on our planet.”
—Ashley Benham Yazdani 

Non-Fiction for Younger Readers: Elizabeth Rusch, for Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved Our Planet, illustrated by Teresa Martinez (Charlesbridge)

Many kids today feel helpless. Elizabeth recounts that when she goes to school visits, she asks kids if anything going on today reminds them of the Ozone crisis. Every hand goes up. That’s why she wrote Mario and the Hole in the Sky.
“I wanted to give them a message of hope. That we actually imperiled our planet before, and we did something about it.” And that the effort was led by a boy from Mexico.
—Elizabeth Rusch

Picture Book Illustration: Hyewon Yum, for Clever Little Witch, written by Muon Thị Van (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

“I'm very lucky. I was given this award eleven years ago for my first book. So this is my second time giving this speech. And now I know better what it means... It means so much.” Thank you —Hyewon Yum

Non-Fiction for Older Readers: Deborah Heiligman, for Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children’s Ship” (Henry Holt)

Deborah starts by speaking of our shared “commitment to creating the best books we can for the most important people in the world...” About her research, she was" thrilled to discover" primary sources, and still “many more primary sources, including two survivors to meet and interview... Time and time again, I was struck by how this tragedy brought out the best in people.” —Deborah Heiligman

Young Adult Fiction: Julie Berry, for Lovely War (Viking Books for Young Readers)

Julie speaks to the wonderful beginners in this room, saying “we want to hear your stories.” She thanks SCBWI for including a donation to a charity as part of these awards, charities chosen by the winners. Equal Justice Initiative is her choice. “Justice demands that the truth be spoken out loud... Truth has gotten a bad rap of late. It needs a better publicist... But we can't lose hope in the truth.”
—Julie Berry

Sid Fleischman Humor Award Winner: Remy Lai, for Pie in the Sky (Henry Holt)

“Are you ready for some jokes? I don't have any. Really...” Remy tells the story of finding out she'd won the award...  Having to give a speech? ”Now that I'm officially funny...that's very hard.” She turns serious, “Sometimes publishing can make you feel like you can never be enough... I'm going to accept that today, I'm enough."    —Remy Lai

They're ready for their close-up...

The Award ceremony is about to begin...

Moments from the #NY20SCBWI Golden Kite Awards Party

What an evening!

Levine Querido Publisher and Author Arthur Levine and Author Linda Sue Park

George Brown from the Highlights Foundation and me (Lee Wind)

Author/Illustrator Jim Averbeck interviews Golden Kite Award-Winner for YA Fiction Julie Berry on the Gold Carpet

SCBWI's associate executive director Sarah Baker with author and now editor of his own imprint Versify at HMH Kwame Alexander

left to right: Author Meg Medina,  agent Adriana Dominguez, author/illustrator John Parra, and author Miranda Paul

The portfolios!

the room abuzz!

Are you ready to "get your gold on?" (The Golden Kite Awards, that Is!)

Leah Henderson and I are here to blog highlights of all the buzz and excitement of tonight's party, awards ceremony, and reception!

Follow along here and with #NY20SCBWI

Author Panel: Elizabeth Partridge

Elizabeth Partridge

Elizabeth Partridge is the author of seventeen books, including Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam, and Marching to Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary. She's also written biographies on Dorothea Lange, Woody Guthrie, and John Lennon.

Her books have received many honors, including National Book Award Finalist, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Michael L. Printz Honor, SCBWI Golden Kite Award, School Library Journal's Battle of the Books, and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award.

She spoke on the author panel moderated by Linda Sue Park.

Did you set out to write a book that mattered? Tell us about the original idea of your book:

Boots on the Ground:
One of Partridge's many
 books for young readers

"I was a young protestor during the Vietnam War. I knew nothing about the guys who went to fight... I wanted to write about them."

Elizabeth interviewed veterans, a nurse, and refugees and wove together their stories, and she wanted kids to hear those stories before the primary sources died.

Share a story about the editorial process for one of your books. What's it like to work with an editor?

Elizabeth wrote some material for an editor, who then arranged for a phone call. She was excited about what she'd done. But then her editor asked, "Um, where do we go now?"

Elizabeth was laughing because she didn't want to cry. She knew big changes were coming—it turned into eight months worth of work. But it was so worth it, basically having someone say, 'I'm in your court. Let's go to work.'"

Share a story about one of your young readers:

She has asked students to interview grandparents who might have been soldiers or refugees in Vietnam, and the most touching story for her: A Vietnam veteran came to one of her events, and then he came back to another reading two weeks later.

He told his wife he was going to read the book. He went into the bedroom and read fast and furious, and he came to her and said, "It's going to be OK. I didn't know it happened like this to other people. I can forgive myself now."


Follow Elizabeth on Twitter
Visit Elizabeth's website

Book Signing, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, More Time with the Illustrator Portfolios, and a Champagne Toast to Celebrate the Golden Kite Award Winners!

Cheers!

What a finale to an amazing evening!