Children's Book Academy Scholarships
Our scholarships are designed to help bring more diversity of all kinds into the children's literature field and are currently offered to folks who identify as LBGQTI, having a disability, being a person of color, or being low income. In addition, we also invite SCBWI RAs, ARAs, and ICs to apply as well as children's librarians, whether or not they identify with the above, because they do so much for our community. Please peruse our past and current offerings. To get first notice of these opportunities, please sign up for our not too frequent but often helpful newsletter here.
The Yuyi Morales Scholarship is for our Craft and Business of Writing Children's Picture Books interactive e-course. Find out more about the course here and about the scholarships here.
The Andrea Davis Pinkney Scholarship is for our Middle Grade Mastery interactive e-course. Find out more about the course here and the scholarships here.
And the Rafael Lopez and Pat Cummings Scholarship is for our Craft and Business of Illustrating Children's Books interactive e-course. Find out more about the course here and about the scholarships here.
About Diversity in Children's Publishing
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
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. Not enough people buy diverse children's books and 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. :)