The importance of entering children’s book award contests goes well
beyond a win. There are two sides you can capitalize on. The obvious, if your
book achieves book award recognition you and your publisher can reap the
benefits of promoting you as an award-winning author. Second, even if you don’t place in the
contest your book does gain additional exposure through the judging process.
For example, when I participated in the 2011 NYS Reading Association Conference
and Author Fair, two different teachers who are judges for the 2014 NYS Reading
Association Charlotte Award mentioned they read my book for the contest. This
provided a great opportunity to talk about my school visit workshops and The Golden
Pathway’s Educators Guide, which then led to two different school visits. What
better way to get the conversation going about your book then by people in the
educational trenches.
Not sure where to being your search for contests? Of course the
Internet is your most viable option. Google “children’s book award contests”
and you will receive over a million hits. I can feel your shoulders sag; please
don’t be dismayed as to where to begin. To help you get started I recommend the
following websites for comprehensive contest listings:
Society
of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators – www.scbwi.org
The Golden
Kite Award, Sid Fleischman Humor
Award, and Sue Alexander Most
Promising New Work Award.
The
Purple Crayon - http://www.underdown.org/childrens-book-awards.htm
The
Reading
U.S.
National and Canadian Awards for Children's and YA Literature: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/awards/nat_awards.html
Children’s Literacy Classic
International Book Awards www.clcawards.org
EPIC’s eBook Awards http://epicorg.com/competitions/epics-ebook-awards.html
Global eBook Awards http://awardsforebooks.com
IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards http://reading.org/Resources/AwardsandGrants/childrens_ira.aspx
· Writer’s Digest – www.writersdigest.com
– even though The Golden Pathway and Hockey Agony were originally submitted
as short stories to the annual contest they both placed as Honorable Mentions
hence providing interest by Guardian Angel Publishing in offering my first two
children book contracts.
An additional effective way to help keep you up to date on children’s
book awards is by setting up a Google Alert with “children’s book awards”
Don’t
stop researching with just the above mentioned. Conduct a search by state,
topic, etc. (i.e., historical fiction, bullying, music, etc., all depending on
the topic of your book). Cynthia Leitich Smith’s website noted above is a great
resource for state-by-state.
Since the majority of contests are
copyright deadline based, even before your book is
published you need to educate
yourself as to what contest is the most reputable and the best fit for your
particular book. Do your homework and double check the submission guidelines
(they do change from time to time just as publisher submission guidelines).
Don’t come across as an amateur, research and confirm submission guidelines before
submitting. What to look for: topic, copyright year, state of residency,
country, etc.
Create an
Excel spreadsheet for tracking purposes:
- · Contest Name
- · Contact Info
- · Deadline Date
- · Date Submitted
- · Winners Announced By
- · Accepted
- · Rejected
- · Comments
Of
course, adjust the form to your personal needs. I set deadline reminders 30
days prior to the actual deadline on my Outlook Task Reminder. Don’t feel as if
you need to “reinvent the wheel” in creating your Excel spreadsheet, if you are
interested I’d be delighted to email you my blank tracking form. Please feel
free to email me at donna@donnamcdine.com.
Please mention where you read my article and put “Children’s Book Contests
Excel Spreadsheet” in the subject line.
Good luck
in your quest in becoming an award-winning children’s author!
Donna McDine is an award-winning children's author Visit
McDine at www.donnamcdine.com, www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com, and www.authorprservices.com.
