The Yuyi Morales Merit Scholarship for the Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books
is now closed until 2015.

Please check back or join our tribe for first notice here.

Check back here in 2015 when we run the course again, or to get some lovely email reminders about our courses please join our Tribe to subscribe to our Newsletter :)

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The Children's Book Academy is proud to offer merit scholarships for writers and illustrators of color or identifying as LBGQTI, or having a disability, who are currently underrepresented in the children's publishing industry. 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 and  Illustrator Coordinators who do so much unpaid work to help our field. We want to help support increased diversity in the field, and are offering merit-based scholarships to help improve cultural representation to reflect the true make-up of the United States!  First up we are offering several full scholarships to the interactive online Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books e-Course as well as a handful of half-off scholarships. Please help share our initiative by sharing this link: http://bit.ly/1v3Xqew

Easy Peasy Scholarship Criteria
Applicants need to:

• Be a member of an ethnic minority, or identify as LGBQTI, or as having a disability, be low income, or be an SCBWI RA.
  
• Be committed to and excited about writing poetry or truly exquisite texts for children's books and want to contribute to the field to help make a better world through children's books, whether it's just by creating more delight or by skillfully and subtly integrating social justice themes in your work.
• Commit to participating fully in the course by availing yourself of the course materials and participating in the private Facebook group.
  
• All applicants must write a 40-60 word description of themselves, their background, and why they'd like this scholarship.  We LOVE creative pitches. If you'd like to see a winning pitch/description from our last diversity scholarship, click here!
  
• All applicants must include a 600 word or less response to one of the following questions:

                     If you consider yourself a non-artist, why do you want to make art? 
                     If you already are a working illustrator or artist, how do you want to use this course to                                further your career?

• If you have a website, please include it.
• Applicants must complete the short submission form here.

To find out more about this 5-week interactive e-course click here. 

About the Yuyi Morales Merit Scholarship

Yuyi was one of my many favorite students and it was an honor and treat to be her teacher. Below are some of her many wonderful books. To see more visit www.yuyimorales.com/  You can like Yuyi here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yuyi-Morales/22843489719 (pity there's no love button) and help support her by buying her wonderful books. You can also like our new Facebook page too :) Each scholarship has been named after someone who has done great things to improve cultural representation in the children's book field. If you'd like to like our brand new Facebook page, or join our helpful Children's Book Creatives group we'd LOVE it. Here is the link:  https://www.facebook.com/childrensbookacademy 

About Racial Diversity in Children's Literature.

While we offer scholarships to all individuals who identify as being in the groups mentioned above, the statistics on racial representation in children's books are incredibly disheartening. And while some folks (i.e. Anglo people) genuinely believe that we've moved beyond this into a color-blind society, the reality of this is simply not true.  The Children's Book Academy is also proud to be a supporter of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign!

Here are some links that I hope that you'll explore. 
Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power, Publishing by Daniel Jose Older on Buzzfeed

Lee and Low Curriculum Corner: Race
An article with 8 links to article on the subject.

Literary Agents Discuss the Diversity Gap in Publishing by Jason Low on Lee and Low
An article that I'm in about agents and diversity put together by the fabulous Jason Low.

As Demographics Shift, Kids' Books Stay Stubbornly White by Elizabeth Blair on NPR's Code Switch Blog

Artist Illustrates Dramatic Lack of Diversity in Kid's Books by Jason Boog on GalleyCat

Race, Gender, and Disability in Today's Children's Literature by Kira Isak Pirofski on Critical Multicultural Pavilion 

Children's Literature Stuck in the Past: Why Is There Still a Lack of Diversity In Books for Kids? on AirTalk from KPCC

Polka Dots, Self-Portraits, and First Voice Multicultural Children's Books by Maya Gonzales on The Children's Book Academy

There are so many blog posts out there about this issue. I recently met with some editors in NY and learned something super interesting. There are two main reasons that publishers are not publishing the kinds of books that we all need to truly help get to a color blind society and that is not enough people buy diverse children's books and that many people of color who have not had the kinds of educational opportunities that middle class folks have had with 2 generations or more of university graduates behind them don't always have the skills needed. Hence these scholarships and a request to help support diversity by buying diverse books. :)  Here's a wee graphic from Lee and Low.

Please help share our super helpful offerings with folks who might benefit, using the buttons below right : )