Press Release Fun: Golden Kite Award Winners

Golden Kite Award Winners:

Fiction:
SEA OF THE DEAD By Julia Durango, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Nonfiction:
ASHLEY BRYAN: WORDS TO MY LIFE’S SONG By Ashley Bryan, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)

Picture Book Text:
THE LONGEST NIGHT By Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin, Holiday House

Picture Book Illustration:
GRACIAS THANKS Illustrated by John Parra (written by Pat Mora), Lee & Low Books

Golden Kite Honor Recipients:
Fiction:
NEIL ARMSTRONG IS MY UNCLE By Nan Marino, Roaring Brook Press

Nonfiction:
ERNEST HEMMINGWAY: A WRITER’S LIFE By Catherine Reef, Clarion Books (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Picture Book Text:
BELLA & BEAN By Rebecca Kai Dotlich, illustrated by Aileen Leijten, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)

Picture Book Illustration:
BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson), Carolrhoda Books

The Golden Kite Awards, given annually to recognize excellence in children’s literature in the previous calendar year, grant cash prizes of $2,500 to author and illustrator winners in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Book Text, and Picture Book Illustration. Authors and illustrators will receive an expense-paid trip to Los Angeles to attend the award ceremony at the Golden Kite Luncheon at SCBWI’s Annual Summer Conference in August.

The Golden Kite Awards are given each year to the most outstanding children’s books published during the previous year, and written or illustrated by members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Four panels of three judges each (one panel for each category, consisting of author or illustrator members of SCBWI whose own works are that of the category being judged), award the titles they feel exhibit excellence in writing or illustration, and that genuinely appeal to the interests and concerns of children.

An Honor Book plaque is awarded in each category as well. A certificate of acknowledgment is presented to the author of the picture book illustration award book and the illustrator of the picture book text award book.

About the 2010 Golden Kite Award Recipients

Julia Durango’s second novel Sea of the Dead receives this year’s Golden Kite award for Fiction. This fast-paced adventure story for middle-grade readers draws the reader quickly into a world loosely based on a Central America, although with an alternate history.

The award for Non-Fiction goes to Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life’s Song an autobiographical picture book by the three-time Coretta Scott King award-winner, which also won this year’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.

The Longest Night written by Marion Dane Bauer is this year’s winner for Picture Book Text. Bauer’s lyrical text tells the story of a the tiny creature whose voice summons the new day. (Illustrated by Ted Lewin.)

The Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration goes to Gracias/Thanks in which John Parra’s bright and delightful illustrations follow a young multiracial boy’s gratitude in a bilingual celebration of family and friendship. (Written by Pat Mora.)

About the 2009 Golden Kite Honor Recipients

Librarian Nan Marion’s debut novel Neil Armstrong is my Uncle receives the 2010 Golden Kite Honor for Fiction. Non-Fiction Honor-winner Ernest Hemmingway: A Writer’s Life, was written by Catherine Reef, the author of more than 40 award-winning nonfiction books for young readers. Poet Rebecca Kai Dotlich receives the Picture Book Text honor award for Bella & Bean, and Bad News Outlaws, illustrated by 3- time Coretta Scott King Honor recipient R. Gregory Christie is the recipient of the 2010 Picture Book Illustration Honor Award.

General Information

Founded in 1971, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is one of the largest existing writers’ and illustrators’ organizations, with over 22,000 members worldwide. It is the only organization specifically for those working in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television, and multimedia. The organization was founded by Stephen Mooser (President) and Lin Oliver (Executive Director), both of whom are well-published children’s book authors and leaders in the world of children’s literature.

The Golden Kite Awards will be presented to the winners on Sunday, August 1 st at the Golden Kite Luncheon, the centerpiece event of SCBWI’s 39 th Annual Conference on Writing and Illustrating for Children, taking place at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel July 30 th – August 2 nd , 2010.

A list of previous Golden Kite Award winners and honor books is available on the SCBWI’s website: www.scbwi.org