I know it’s not Tuesday, but I wanted to share some exciting news I received yesterday! My picture book manuscript, Dancing Grannies, is a finalist in this year’s Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing at Hunger Mountain. Based on my own grandmother and her sisters’ crazy love of dancing, Dancing Grannies is a story near and dear to my heart. I wrote it six years ago, and I had more fun thinking about these crazy grannies dancing all over the barnyard to the music of nature. It has always been one of my favorites. It’s a rare thing to have a favorite story be such an easy story to write, but there you have it…sometimes God works in mysterious ways. Anyway, I just wanted to share my news with you good Sensibility and Sense folks as an encouragement to keep on writing, keep on submitting and keep on dreaming. You never know when something good is just around the corner.
Here is a list of all the winners. Congratulations everyone!
The Winners of the 2014 Katherine Paterson Prize in Young Adult and Children’s Writing
- Judge: Katherine Applegate
- First Place: Robin Heald for her picture book manuscript “Isadora’s Sandálias”
Category winners:
- Picture Book or Writing for Younger Children: Ruvanee Vilhauer for “Paper Lantern”
- Middle Grade: Cori McCarthy for “Name Me America”
- Young Adult: Beth Miles for “The Harm in Knowing”
Special Mentions:
- Christina Elaine Collins for “Tallies” (Middle Grade)
- Rachel Furey for “Controlling the Weather” (Young Adult)
This year’s finalists:
- Amy Guglielmo “Maya’s World” (PG)
- Patti Richards “Dancing Grannies” (PB)
- Niki Masse Schoenfeldt “The Little Elephant Keeper” (PB)
- Carol Grannick “Reeni’s Turn” (MG)
- Jennifer Wolf Kam “All Souls Realty” (MG)
- Stacy Davidowitz and Elissa Brent Weissman “Here Goes Everything” (MG)
- Kelly Dyksterhouse “Match Point” (YA)
- Danielle Pignataro “The Signs” (YA)
- Sarah Tregay “Love at First Book” (YA)
Sensibility- When good news comes in your writing life, hold it near to your heart. It will be there when the going gets tough and your muse is on an extended vacation.
Sense- Learning to look at your work with a critical eye can help you recognize when a story is finished. It may not be right for the current market, but believe in it anyway. Its time will come.
Please share any good-writing news you have!