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Cheerios® Launches Next Spoonfuls of Stories® Children’s Book Contest
Cheerios® Launches Next Spoonfuls of Stories® Children’s Book Contest to Give Would-Be Authors the Chance for Cash Prizes and Publisher Review
Starting April 16, 2008 and going through July 15, 2008, Cheerios invites previously unpublished adult authors to submit their children’s book manuscripts in the second Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® Children’s Book Contest. The book should be suitable for children who are 4 to 8 years old. Cheerios will provide cash prizes to up to three winners, and the top winner will have their book evaluated by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing for a potential book deal. A book deal is not guaranteed. For a complete list of rules and to submit an entry online, go to www.SpoonfulsofStoriesContest.com.
Last year, Cheerios received close to 1,000 entries in the Children’s Book Contest, and Shellie Braeuner, an SCBWI member from Nashville, Tenn., was named the grand prize winner. In addition to her $5,000 prize from Cheerios, Braeuner received a book deal from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Her winning story, The Great Dog Wash, is being published and will be printed and available in Cheerios boxes in the spring of 2009. The book also will be available in hardcover on bookshelves in the summer of 2009. Two first prize winners, Alison Anderson of Cumberland, Wisc., and Kate Heilman, an SCBWI member from Chicago, each received $1,000 from Cheerios.
Editorial changes at Scholastic
Arthur A. Levine Books at Scholastic is gearing up for this summer's release of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, and has made a couple of personnel changes, according to PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:
* Rachel Griffiths, previously Assistant Editor, is now an Editor at Scholastic Press.
* Emily Clement joins the imprint as an Editorial Assistant from Blue Apple Books.
Feiwel & Friends to launch this fall
Jean Feiwel, formerly of Scholastic, has announced a name for her new imprint within the Holtzbrinck family: Feiwel & Friends. Originally Feiwel planned to start publishing next fall. But after acquiring a self-published book (and the author-illustrator’s two next titles), she’s sped up the process.
Picture book turnaround at Bologna?
Graham Marks of Publishing News, a British equivalent to Publishers Weekly, came back from this spring book fair in Bologna with a glimmer of hope for a part of the industry that’s been in the doldrums for a few years: picture books. “At least some of the bright, shiny bits [of the upcoming year] are going to be picture books,” he writes; “the market may have turned a corner at long last.” Here’s his full report.
strategy at Bloomsbury USA
Publishers Weekly’s report on Bloomsbury’s US operation (now including the Walker Books firm, which provided the margin of profitability last year) notes a couple of new initiatives that might affect children’s writers.
Fantasy today
In early April, Publishers Weekly reported on upcoming fantasy novels for children and young adults that publishers planned to promote strongly. Three indications of trends in this field stood out for me.
Illustration from "Why I Never Shoot Bears"- A New England folktale