2011 Events: MNSCBWI Mentorships

MNSCBWI is excited to announce that the 2011-2012 Mentorship Award is open for submissions! The mentorship program is a competition for members of Minnesota SCBWI in which the prize is a one-year, one-on-one mentoring relationship with an established author or illustrator. The 2011-2012 Writing Mentor is Heather Bouwman and the Illustration Mentor is David Geister.

Heather, author of The Remarkable & Very True story of Lucy & Snowcap (2008, Marshall Cavendish), has received the Loft McKnight Award, 2010-2011, the State Arts Board grant 2010-2011, and is a former Loft mentor Series participant and a Jerome-SASE award winner. Heather also teaches creative writing and American literature at the University of St. Thomas and co-curates the Second Story reading series at The Loft.

David has worked for several years as a historical artist and illustrator and his paintings have been featured in books and magazines nationwide. His illustrations can be found in several children's books from Sleeping Bear Press, including S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet, The Legend of Minnesota, The Voyageur's Paddle, and B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet, written by his wife Pat Bauer.

One writer and one illustrator will be selected as the recipients of this award. The recipient isn’t necessarily the “best” submission, but one the judges feel would benefit most from a mentorship program. The specifics of the mentorship relationship are determined by the mentor and mentee–mentors may provide critique, instruction, ideas, etc. through one-on-one meetings, email and/or phone calls.

Guidelines:
• Applicant must be a current member of SCBWI.
• All applicants must include an essay, stating in 500 words or less why you should be selected and what you hope to accomplish during the year if chosen.
• Writer applicants, email the first 5 pages of your manuscript (double-spaced, 12 point type, Arial or Times New Roman). Picture book manuscripts can be emailed in their entirety.
• Illustrator applicants, email 5 images (Please format these as JPEGs at 72 dpi.; maximum image size 1M). Total file size may not exceed 4MB for the entire submission. A typed submission summary that includes the title or brief description of each illustration, in the order in which they should be viewed, the dimensions of the original work, the medium, and a line or two from or about the story or scene that’s being illustrated.
• One or two paragraphs explaining what you hope to accomplish by working with the mentor.
• These are blind submissions. Please do not put your name on any of your manuscript pages or illustration samples. Name and contact information should be included on a cover letter, along with the title of your manuscript or illustrations.
• Submissions must be received by email on or before Tuesday, September 6, 2011.
• Please e-mail these materials as attachments in a single message to Celia Waldock, Mentorship Coordinator: cawaldock@yahoo.com. Any submission that does not follow the guidelines will be disqualified. Include Writer or Illustrator Mentorship on your subject line.

If you have questions about the mentorship award or are interested in mentoring in 2012-2013 please contact Quinette Cook, Regional Advisor, at quinettecook@studio.com.