LEE & LOW BOOKS, award-winning publisher of children’s books, is pleased to announce the twelfth annual NEW VOICES AWARD. The Award will be given for a children’s picture book manuscript by a writer of color. The Award winner receives a cash grant of $1000 and our standard publication contract, including our basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash grant of $500.
As a New Voices Honor winner myself, I want to encourage aspiring writers to enter this contest. So often I receive emails from writers of color, asking me how to get published. They ask for the names of my editors who might publish their stories, or agents who will help them find an editor. One lady recently promised that if I gave her an opening into publishing, she’d do the same for someone else once she got published. But as a new author myself, I don’t hold a magic key to the publishing industry that I can simply loan out to aspiring writers. What I can do is give advice.
My advice: Read a lot. Write everyday. Polish (revise) your stories. Learn as much as you can about the children’s publishing industry. And if you’ve written a book that fits the guidelines of Lee & Low Books New Voices Award, enter the contest, by all means. I did, and my book will publish next spring.
Hurry! The deadline is September 30, 2011.