The Rafael Lopez Diversity and Merit Scholarships APPLICATIONS are now open UNTIL MAY 7th for our mentored 2021 Craft and Business of Illustrating Children's Books e-Course! HOORAY!!!!

The Children's Book Academy is proud to offer merit scholarships for all three of our flagship courses. Our criteria is to help increase diversity and reward those who do so much in our field, so if you identify as being of color, or LBGQTI, or as having a disability, or are a member of a group who are currently underrepresented in the children's publishing industry, please apply.
In addition, we are offering scholarships for low income folks who might not be able to take this course otherwise, as well as to SCBWI Regional Advisors, ARAs, and Illustrator Coordinators who may or may not identify as being of any of these communities above but who do so much unpaid work to help our field and children's librarians who we love. Finally, because I'm a homesick Aussie and because the exchange rate is so bad, we also offer some scholarships to Aussies who tend to make the courses super lively.
For our game-changing Craft & Business of Illustrating Children's Books, starting June 7th we offer Rafael Lopez full and half scholarships, and give as many scholarships as we can afford based on the number of paying students within the size-limited course, so please help spread the word. Meanwhile here are your six easy peasy questions. Please be brief, specific, and use your language skills so that we fall in love with you. And while we will help with writing, the primary focus is on illustrating. Do your best to answer the questions in a writerly or fun way so that we can see your potential and want to keep working with you.
In addition, we are offering scholarships for low income folks who might not be able to take this course otherwise, as well as to SCBWI Regional Advisors, ARAs, and Illustrator Coordinators who may or may not identify as being of any of these communities above but who do so much unpaid work to help our field and children's librarians who we love. Finally, because I'm a homesick Aussie and because the exchange rate is so bad, we also offer some scholarships to Aussies who tend to make the courses super lively.
For our game-changing Craft & Business of Illustrating Children's Books, starting June 7th we offer Rafael Lopez full and half scholarships, and give as many scholarships as we can afford based on the number of paying students within the size-limited course, so please help spread the word. Meanwhile here are your six easy peasy questions. Please be brief, specific, and use your language skills so that we fall in love with you. And while we will help with writing, the primary focus is on illustrating. Do your best to answer the questions in a writerly or fun way so that we can see your potential and want to keep working with you.
Easy Peasy Scholarship Criteria
Here's all that you need to do:
1. Using your funniest or most lyrical language, tell us something lovely about yourself 2. Describe how you meet our scholarship criteria 3. Include your website if you have one, or email 3 images labeled with your name and "CBICB" in the subject line to mira@childrensbookacademy.com 4. Talk about how you are going to give back by helping your fellow students and the Academy by participating in the group and helping us spread the word about our offerings 5. Let us know if you are agented or if you've been previously published Just fill out the form and best of luck. Remember we are investing in you so do your best to sell yourself and your work. |
Congratulations to our 2020 winners:
Mary Jane Muir, Ana Velez , Leanne White, Lesley Smitheringale , Anita Crawford Clark, Alexander Graves, Chanel Williams, Christine Chan, A'Neshia Turner, and Stacey Byer
Congratulations to our 2019 winners:
Haley Brown, Violeta Zamora-Agg, Matt B Lewis, Alexa Ashton, Amanda Gicharu, Debasmita Dasgupta (multi-Published), Geoffry Smalley, Sarah Maynard, Jesse Bibbs, Daveia Odoi, J'Aaron Merchant, Daphne Higbee, Randall Sexton
Congratulations to our 2018 winners:
Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom (now published), Darrenn Canton, Davian Chester, Dani Duck, Denise Henry, Carolyn Le, Catherine Athena Louise, Caren Shiloh, Jerome White (now Published).
Congratulations to our 2017 winners:
Gael Abary (now published), Sandra Bartholomew (now published), Benjamin Robinson, Patricia Rojas, Kim Wilson
Congratulations to 2016 winners:
Cibyl Kavan, Larissa Marantz (now multi-Published), Kristen Warner, Kenneth Lamug (now multi-Published), Farouqua Abuzeit, Manjari Chakravarti, Angelica Jackson, Aura Lewis (multi-Published), Rebekah Lowell (now multi-Published), Kimberly Frink, and Karen Yin (now multi-contracted).
Congratulations to 2015 winners:
Ruben Salazar, Mac McCord, Daisy St. Rose, Melissa Stagi Zepeda, Mariama Ross, Trisha St.Clair, Rosario Carillo, Marion Sipe, Melissa Henry, Cynthia Kukla, and Justine Lawson.
Congratulations to 2014 winners:
Barbara Baker, Angel Alvarez, Rachel Dougherty, Jerrolyn Crooks -De Gracia, Eliane Mancera, Daria Peoples Riley (now multi-Published), and Sharon Sordo (now contracted).
To find out more about the course click here: The Craft and Business of Illustrating Picture Books
Mary Jane Muir, Ana Velez , Leanne White, Lesley Smitheringale , Anita Crawford Clark, Alexander Graves, Chanel Williams, Christine Chan, A'Neshia Turner, and Stacey Byer
Congratulations to our 2019 winners:
Haley Brown, Violeta Zamora-Agg, Matt B Lewis, Alexa Ashton, Amanda Gicharu, Debasmita Dasgupta (multi-Published), Geoffry Smalley, Sarah Maynard, Jesse Bibbs, Daveia Odoi, J'Aaron Merchant, Daphne Higbee, Randall Sexton
Congratulations to our 2018 winners:
Adriana Hernandez Bergstrom (now published), Darrenn Canton, Davian Chester, Dani Duck, Denise Henry, Carolyn Le, Catherine Athena Louise, Caren Shiloh, Jerome White (now Published).
Congratulations to our 2017 winners:
Gael Abary (now published), Sandra Bartholomew (now published), Benjamin Robinson, Patricia Rojas, Kim Wilson
Congratulations to 2016 winners:
Cibyl Kavan, Larissa Marantz (now multi-Published), Kristen Warner, Kenneth Lamug (now multi-Published), Farouqua Abuzeit, Manjari Chakravarti, Angelica Jackson, Aura Lewis (multi-Published), Rebekah Lowell (now multi-Published), Kimberly Frink, and Karen Yin (now multi-contracted).
Congratulations to 2015 winners:
Ruben Salazar, Mac McCord, Daisy St. Rose, Melissa Stagi Zepeda, Mariama Ross, Trisha St.Clair, Rosario Carillo, Marion Sipe, Melissa Henry, Cynthia Kukla, and Justine Lawson.
Congratulations to 2014 winners:
Barbara Baker, Angel Alvarez, Rachel Dougherty, Jerrolyn Crooks -De Gracia, Eliane Mancera, Daria Peoples Riley (now multi-Published), and Sharon Sordo (now contracted).
To find out more about the course click here: The Craft and Business of Illustrating Picture Books
About the Scholarships
Our scholarships are an opportunity to promote diversity in a meaningful and broad way while also honoring people we think are wonderful.We know our courses aren't cheap but that's because we pay so much money to bring in fantastic co-teachers, weekly guests, and use a lot of expensive tech to make it easy for students. So without further ado...
Meet Rafael Lopez
We are so delighted to be honoring Rafael Lopez with this scholarship for three main reasons. One is the quality of his art work (gorgeous), another is his generosity in sharing helpful information in the course, and the third is his social activism. To find out much more about Rafael, please visit his website. Meanwhile here's a peek at some of his books. |
We offer these full and half-priced merit-based scholarships to help improve cultural representation in order to reflect the true make-up of the United States both as creators and as main characters in books and to increase access to our courses! These scholarships to the interactive online Craft and Business of Illustrating Children's Books e-Course are for both fearful beginners (including writers open to learning to illustrate) to award-winning illustrators wanting to upgrade their skills and learn new and helpful information for the current market. To read more about diversity, visit our main scholarship page here. And to find out more about the course, click the image below