Student Successes: Rong Yuan Ma

Rongyuan (Roya) Ma won the Gold Award in the Children's Market catagory from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles 54th Annual Illustration Exhibition for this stunning piece of art.

She did the line art in ink, scanned it, and painted it digitally.
Congratulations, Roya! 

© Rongyuan Ma, "Daughter of the Dragon"

Student Sucess: Marcela Staudenmaier

Marcela Staudenmaier received the R. Michaelson Gallery Emerging Artist Award at the NESCBWI 2015 conference. This year the award was given to the creator of the best portfolio at the portfolio showcase.

Illustration © Marcela Staudenmaier

Marcela's gorgeous 3D papercut illustrations impressed the staff at R. Michaelson Galleries.  She will have one of her pieces hung in the gallery's 26th Annual Children's Illustration Celebration,

On exhibit: November 8th, 2015 – January 15th, 2016

Opening reception: Sunday, November 8th, 4-6pm



Here's a link to an interview with Marcela and more of her great artwork.

http://www.kidlit411.com/2015/06/Kidlit411-Illustrator-Marcela-Staudenmaier.html

RI Mock Caldecott Award

I had a great time talking about children's books with a group of Rhode Island librarians this week at a Professional Development Workshop where we discussed and voted for the Mock Caldecott Award for 2012. The event was held at the stately William  Hall library on Broad Street in Cranston.

 The Caldecott Medal has been given annually since 1938 by the Association for Library Service to Children (a division of the American Library Association) to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

The real Caldecott Medal will be announced in Dallas at 7:45 a.m. CT on Jan.23, 2012, along with announcements for the Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Book Award and Printz award. The books honored serve as a guide for parents, educators, and librarians. The awards are selected under a cloak of secrecy by national judging committees composed of librarians and other children’s literature experts.

Since I was giving a Powerpoint presentation about children's book design at the workshop, I delved into the criteria for this particular award.

To see more about my take on the Caldecott criteria, the RI Mock Caldecott winners, some links and a few trailers, click here to see my full blog post. 

Just so you know, this was the winner in the Mock Caldecott. The real one will be announced on January 23, 2012.

Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith

Thanks to Walter and Wendy for joining me, and to Cheryl Space for inviting me.