Candlewick Picture Book Award

The $2,000 Candlewick prize for picture books was initiated in 1998, in the early days of the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program. Candlewick Press of Boston generously sponsors this annual award, and editors from the press select the winning manuscript.

Critical Thesis Prize

The $1,000 Critical Thesis Prize recognizes an outstanding third semester critical thesis each semester.  Critical theses are nominated by faculty advisors and a faculty review committee selects the winning thesis.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Prize

Started in January 1998, the $1,000 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Prize honors strong writing for the third-grade audience or higher in any genre. It is open to students enrolled in any semester. The prizewinner receives a careful reading of the manuscript and a phone/e-mail consultation with a Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt or Clarion editor. 

 

In A Nutshell Short Story award

This $300 scholarship was started by six women from the July 2007 graduating class to offer students an opportunity to be recognized each semester for their writing. They chose short stories because it embodies the essence of good storytelling.

 

Rachel Hylton grew up in and out of North Carolina and remains firmlyentrenched in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She writes middle grade and tutors high school math. Uma Krishnaswami worked with her on her winning submission, Off the Cuff.

 

Rachel stated, “I'm very interested in familial relationships, particularly those across generations, like daughter, mother, and grandmother. Off the Cuff which was inspired by my own grandmother, a crazy NPR funeral story and my friend Biff, who got punched in the face for no apparent reason (unless perhaps he did look like a televangelist.)”

 

 

Marion Dane Bauer scholarship

The $1,000 Marion Dane Bauer Scholarship for middle-grade work also recognizes the dedication and heart of founding faculty member Marion Dane Bauer.  Marion (pictured on the left) retired from the program in 2009 after serving over 10 years as a revered teacher, including many years as Faculty Chair. 

Skila Brown is currently living with her family in Antigua, Guatemala. She worked on her winning submission with advisors Shelley Tanaka, Sharon Darrow, and Julie Larios, as well as with  Rita Williams-Garcia and Jane Kurtz in a workshop session.

 

Caminar is a coming-of-age novel told in verse and set in 1981 Guatemala.  It is the story of a boy who, after surviving the massacre of his village, journeys up the side of a mountain and must decide what being a man during a time of war really means. Caminar also recently won the 2011 SCBWI Work-in-Progress grant.

 

 Skila commented, “The best stories come into our lives when we aren't really looking.  I have been very interested in Guatemala, its political history, and especially the turmoil the country endured during the 1980s.  For over ten years, I've read and studied a lot about that time period, with no intention to ever write about it myself.  But when you spend that much time thinking about something, it's no wonder that you end up needing to write about it, too.” 

  

Norma Fox Mazer AWard

 

Norma (pictured on the left) was a beloved faculty member here at VCFA and her heart and dedication to the program went far beyond her years as faculty member and Faculty Chair. This $2,000 award was generously founded by Norma's family in her memory and received additional support from other donors.  

This substantial scholarship aligns with Norma's young adult writing and recognizes both Norma's support for the program and her prominence in the field of children's literature.  In addition, the winning piece will be read and responded to by Rosemary Brosnan, Norma’s editor at HarperCollins.
 

Nancy Hatch, a 4^th semester student, lives on the mesa northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico . She tutors English part-time, and loves to swim, cook and discuss books in between packets. Nancy worked with both Jane Kurtz and Susan Fletcher on her winning piece, Prophecy's Child.

Prophecy's Child is a story about faith and choices that have no right answer, and ultimately about the love between a brother and sister.

Nancy told us, “This novel began as a short story with the image of a boy removing a feathered mask from the face of his father, a face he had never seen. That image had haunted me for 15 years, but I couldn't figure out how to make it into a novel. Literally, one morning I awoke with the realization that the short story wasn't the beginning of the book, it was the end. That realization was the spark I needed to undertake this book.”

  

Rachel Smoka-Richardson lives with her husband in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serves as the Director of Institutional Giving at the Children's Theatre Company.

 Rachel worked on her winning thesis with Coe Booth. Rachel writes, “For my critical thesis, I reviewed the first three drafts and published version of Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie, and examined how DiCamillo used the revision process to develop distinct, memorable characters. I researched my paper using the Kerlan Collection, part of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota.”

She adds, “I first visited the Kerlan Collection in July 2009 and was amazed by the sheer volume of their collection of papers and books. When I began my studies at VCFA, I knew I wanted to use the Kerlan for my critical thesis. I chose to study Because of Winn-Dixie for several reasons: the book is a personal favorite; the Kerlan had several complete drafts of the book, including a full first draft; and DiCamillo is a local author and I succeeded in obtaining a personal interview with her.”

Additionally, Rachel’s critical thesis also won the 2011 Kerlan Essay Award from the Kerlan Collection. The award is given to an outstanding paper written during the preceding school year by a college or university student using the CLRC resources. You can find out more information at http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/kerlan/awards.php

This is the program’s one and only humor award! Students enrolled in any semester of the program are eligible to apply for this annual award of $775.00.  We are so grateful to alumna Elizabeth Bluemle (7/04) and Josie Leavitt for sponsoring this special prize.  Elizabeth and Josie are proprietors of the Flying Pig Bookstore, a delightful shop in Shelburne, VT which features books for all ages and provides a lively venue for many prominent events with authors and illustrators.  In addition, they blog for Publishers Weekly for the children's books and bookselling blog, ShelfTalker, taking turns posting bookselling observations, book reviews, funny stuff, and literary treats of all kinds.   Elizabeth and Josie read blind copies of the humor manuscripts and select the winning submission each spring.   

Sharon Van Zandt, a 3rd semester student, worked with Susan Fletcher on her winning piece, The Chicken Tree.

Sharon grew up in the Deep South but currently lives and teaches in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas.  She loves all sorts of children's books, especially those that make her laugh.

You can learn more about Sharon on her blog skvanzandt.wordpress.com

Val Howlett writes middle grade and YA and forces her fourteen-year-old sister Claire to read it all. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Told from multiple perspectives of characters in a middle school, The Arf Thing explores the growth of a small incident involving a dog into a situation much larger.

When asked what inspired her to write, she responded: “The media exposure of teen suicides in 2010 and the ensuing It Gets Better campaign spurred a national discussion about bullying in our schools. It took place everywhere, from TV news to Facebook, often using rhetoric that I felt was oversimplified. "Our schools need to do more to stop bullying" was a common outcry. But what is a bully? Are bullies that clear-cut? Haven't we all engaged in a form of bullying at some point in our lives? I began writing this story to explore these questions.”

Candlewick Picture Book Award

The $2,000 Candlewick prize for picture books was initiated in 1998, in the early days of the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program. Candlewick Press of Boston generously sponsors this annual award, and editors from the press select the winning manuscript. For the first time, we have a tie with winners Erin Hagar and Erin Barker.

Erin Hagar lives in Baltimore with her husband and two children.  Her winning submission is There Was a War On, which she developed with Uma Krishnaswami and Laura Kvasnosky .  In response to a farm labor shortage during the first World War, groups of women defied social conventions by organizing the Women's Land Army of America.  These trained volunteers uprooted their lives to learn how to work on farms,  and then hired themselves out to help farmers bring in their crops. 

Erin states, "I think children will relate to the experience of having people in power underestimate their abilities, of having something to contribute that no one else seems to value.   And the way these women overcame those challenges to serve their country during wartime should inspire anyone.  I'm excited to help share the Farmerettes' story."

Erin Barker is a former junior high school teacher from Salt Lake City, Utah.  She receives the scholarship for her submission Crazy Bixby, which she worked on with Julie Larios.  In this story the other kids won’t let Bixby play kickball, so he sets off on his own adventures which include space travel and playing moonball with martians.