New Spark Award Offered By SCBWI

The SCBWI has multiple awards for which to apply, but they recently announced a new award for all those independently published children’s authors and illustrators. According to their website, the Spark Award is:

“An annual award that recognizes excellence in a children’s book published through a non-traditional publishing route.  The award is open to current writer and/or illustrator SCBWI members who have independently-published a board book, picture book, chapter book, middle grade, or young adult novel through an established self- publishing enterprise  or individually self-published.  Submissions must be submitted in traditionally bound form, contain an ISBN number, and provide evidence of Copyright registration.”

This is long overdue for SCBWI and a welcomed addition. For more information and guidelines: Spark Award

If you are not a member of SCBWI, you still have another option, the IPPY. The Independent Publisher Book Awards or “IPPY” Awards “were conceived as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry, and are open to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market.”

They offer multiple categories of book awards, so it is worth checking out. You can find out more at their website: IPPY Awards

Whether or not you send in your book to these programs, I recommend researching them and other avenues to market your works. You can write the most amazing book, but if nobody knows about it, it will never sell. Good luck to all current entrants, writers, and illustrators.