Press Release Fun: The Gold Kite Award and Sid Fleschman Award Winners

THE SOCIETY OF CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS
AND HONOREES OF THE 2011 GOLDEN KITE AWARDS & SID FLEISCHMAN AWARD
The 2011 awards are presented for excellence in books for young readers published in the 2010 calendar year.

Golden Kite Award Winners

Fiction: TURTLE IN PARADISE
By Jennifer Holm
Random House Books for Young Readers

Nonfiction: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BARBIE
By Tanya Lee Stone
Viking Juvenile (Penguin Group USA)

Picture Book Text: BIG RED LOLLIPOP
By Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Viking Juvenile (Penguin Group USA)

Picture Book Illustration: A POCKETFUL OF POSIES: A TREASURY OF NURSERY
RHYMES By Salley Mavor
Houghton Mifflin

Golden Kite Honor Recipients

Fiction: MOCKINGBIRD
By Kathryn Erskine
Puffin (Penguin Group USA)

Nonfiction: FORT MOSE
By Glennette Tilley Turner
Abrams Books for Young Readers

Picture Book Text:

INTERRUPTING CHICKEN
By David Ezra Stein
Candlewick Press

Picture Book Illustration:

BUNNY DAYS
by Tao Nyeu
Dial Books (Penguin Group USA)

2011 Sid Fleischman Award for Humor
MILO: STICKY NOTES AND BRAIN FREEZE
By Alan Silberberg
(Aladdin)

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. The Golden Kite Awards will be presented to the winners on Sunday, August 7th at the Golden Kite Luncheon, the centerpiece event of SCBWI’s 40th Annual Conference on Writing and Illustrating for Children, taking place at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel August 5-8, 2011.

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

About the 2011 Golden Kite Award Recipients

The author of several highly acclaimed novels, (including the Newbery Honor book Our Only May Amelia) Jennifer Holm’s novel Turtle in Paradise receives this year’s Golden Kite Award for Fiction. Based on stories Holm’s mother used to tell about her childhood, this hard-scrabble, Depression-era coming-of-age tale follows 11-year-old Turtle who is sent to live with relatives in Key West, Florida from New Jersey. Hilarious and heartwarming, Turtle in Paradise draws in the middle-grade reader with vibrant imagery and a fast-paced plot with an
adventurous twist.

The award for Non-Fiction goes to The Good, the Bad and the Barbie by acclaimed nonfiction author Tanya Lee Stone. In passionate anecdotes and memories from a range of girls and women (including a forward by Meg Cabot) this compelling book takes an insightful and incisive look at how Barbie became the icon that she is–and at the impact the doll has had on our culture (and vice versa.)

Rooted in the experience of an immigrant family, siblings of all nationalities will see themselves in Rukhsana Khan’s Big Red Lollipop, this year’s winner for Picture Book Text. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall, Khan’s honest story reminds us of how assimilation is transformed from generation to generation, and offers a heartfelt, moving, commentary on sisterly relationships.

The Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration goes to A Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes in which Salley Mavor’s gorgeous fabric relief techniques offer precise and intricate illustrations of beloved nursery rhymes. Even old poems are fresh and new in this beautiful reinterpretation that will delight many generations.

The Sid Fleischman Award for Humor
Named for the late Newbery-winner Sid Fleischman, the SCBWI is pleased to offer this eponymous award for authors whose work exemplifies excellence in the genre of humor, a category so often overlooked by other award committees in children’s literature.

The 2011 Sid Fleischman Award for Humor goes to Alan Silberberg’s second novel Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze. Hilarious and poignant, the story of 13-year-old Milo’s struggle to come to terms with the loss that hit the reset button on his life comes to life through text and cartoons.

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.

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