LA17SCBWI Portfolio Showcase -- and an Only at the SCBWI Summer Conference Moment!

Scenes from the annual portfolio showcase! Honorees will be announced at the morning introduction.

Meanwhile, here's an Only-at-SCBWI moment if I've ever seen one:

Keynote speaker Marvin Terban had us all in stitches this morning. However, this evening, the tables turned when SCBWI LA member Esther Pearl Watson shared the notes she took about his talk -- in the form of a comic! 

Marvin was honored, and had to take a photo to keep!

This is the kind of connection that seems to uniquely happen at SCBWI. Love it.

Catch more of the conference highlights this year through blog posts tagged #LA17SCBWI or as-it-happens on Twitter.

Portfolio Showcase Winners

An esteemed panel of judges (possessing much expertise and very good taste) pored over portfolios yesterday to choose winners for the SCBWI Portfolio Showase! Laurent Linn, Steven Malk, Richard Jesse Watson, Nancy Conescu and Jamie Weiss Chilton chose a portfolio grand prize winner and three honor winners, and the Illustrator Committee chose several illustrators to participate in SCBWI's illustrator mentorship program.

Note that mentorship recipient Julianna Brion won an SCBWI student scholarship (one of three winners), awarded this year for the first time. And she's the recipient of both a portfolio honor and mentorship. Also note that honor winner Joen Deininger was a mentorship winner last year. (The wonderful SCBWI Illustrator Committee programs yield results!)

Here are the recipients...

Grand Prize Winner: ELIZA WHEELER

Portfolio Honor: GREG PIZZOLI

Portfolio Honor & Mentorship Recipient: JULIANNA BRION

Portfolio Honor: JOHN DEININGER

Mentorship Recipient: ANDREA ZUILL

Mentorship Recipient: JUANA MARTINEZ

Mentorship Recipeint: CHRISTINA FORSHAY

Mentorship Recipient: JESSICA LANAN