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2010 Ruth Landers Glass Writers Scholarship

Information about this year's Ruth Landers Glass Writers Scholarship is now available on the New England SCBWI Memory Fund page. Scholarship winners will receive one day's free tuition for the 2011 New England SCBWI Spring Conference or any other NE SCBWI one-day event including Encore, Salon or other one-day workshop that we hold. The scholarship is for tuition only and does not cover any other expenses such as editor critiques, hotel or travel.

Submissions for the Ruth Landers Glass Writers Scholarship will be accepted via email from March 1st to April 25th, 2010

2010 New England Conference Registration

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Registration for SCBWI New England's 2010 Annual Conference opens on Monday, 8 February! This conference will take place on 14-16 May at the Courtyard Marriott in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, with the big day being Saturday, 16 May.

Keynote speakers are author Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrator Marla Frazee, and editor Allyn Johnston. Attendees can sign up for quick queries with agents, manuscript critiques, and portfolio reviews. Ordinary registration includes lunch and a selection of workshops and intensives for children's writers and illustrators at all levels.

Visit this site for a complete listing of workshops and to register for the conference and extras. See you in Fitchburg!

*Illustration by Nicole Tadgell

The Ann Barrow Illustrators Scholarship

Deadline April 30

Attention, illustrators: An Ann Barrow Scholarship winner will be selected by the selection committee and awarded to an illustrator who is registered for the 2010 New England SCBWI Conference. If you are attending the 2010 conference, please consider applying. The scholarship pays full tuition for the 2011 conference.

The workshop committee of New England SCBWI welcomes proposals for the Spring 2010 conference, "Moments of Change." As always, our regional conference will have a strong focus on craft. We will also explore the ways that technology impacts our craft and community.

Stories begin at a moment of change, and we, as a community of children's writers and illustrators, are currently in the midst of our own moment of change. With new technologies, the lives of the children we write for and about are dramatically different from what we experienced growing up. How do we reach our readers through these moments of change?

This is one of the largest regional SCBWI conferences, and we welcome proposals from everyone. We also encourage artists and writers of color, those who are differently abled, and others from underrepresented groups to propose conference workshops.


Important Information

Conference Dates: Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, May 14th-May 16th, 2010
Conference Location: Courtyard Marriott, Fitchburg, MA (Note: This location is new!)
To Submit a Proposal: Please complete a conference proposal form. Separate submissions are required for multiple presentations.

Proposal Due Date: September 15, 2009
Presenters Notified By: November 1, 2009

Types of Presentations: 55-minute workshops; 120-minute intensives


55-minute presentations
What are we looking for?

  • Presentations that relate to our conference theme.
  • Presentations that last 55 minutes in their entirety. When planning, leave time for participant questions and any required audiovisual setup.
  • A range of presentations for all SCBWI members, including illustrators and writers in all genres.
  • Leveled presentations. We are not trying to find one presentation that everyone can attend. Instead, presenters should direct material toward a specific experience level. For example, an "advanced" illustration presentation should not begin with "Why you should carry a sketch book," and a "beginner's" writing workshop should not address marketing a contracted novel.
  • Focused presentations with clear learning outcomes. This could mean a specific genre, style, area of craft, art medium, etc. Plan the presentation thinking, "I want participants to come away having learned these three things."
  • A balanced combination of lecture-style presentations and hands-on workshops.
  • Presentations with information that participants can take back to their desks to ponder and play with.
  • Presentations that include a range of examples rather than drawing solely from the presenter's experience or body of work.
  • Presenters who are published members of SCBWI, as well as editors, agents, MFA graduates, and other industry professionals. Past presentation experience is appreciated.

120-minute intensives

Intensive proposals should meet all of the criteria listed above for 55-minute workshops. Also consider the following:
  • Two hours are provided, so plan exercises or some interactive element in the workshop. An intensive should not only be a lecture.
  • Past presentation experience and in-depth knowledge of the topic are required.
  • Partner presentations are welcome.

Note: If you apply to present a 55-minute workshop or a 120-minute intensive and we feel your presentation may better fit the other format, we will let you know!


Every year SCBWI New England receives many excellent proposals, more than can fit into a conference schedule. Therefore, we must choose on the basis of experience, quality, variety, novelty, attendant costs, and other factors. Please use the NESCBWI Workshop Rubric included below for more explicit selection criteria and standards.


The following presentation topics were suggested by 2009 conference participants. If you are an expert on one of these topics, we would love to see your proposal.

  • Publishing 101 (for beginners)
  • 1st pages review
  • Chapter book workshop
  • Graphic novel for writers
  • Magazine writing
  • Additional workshops in nonfiction and poetry
  • How to give and receive effective critiques
  • Technology for illustrators (Photoshop and other tools with demos)
  • Creating online portfolios
  • YA romance
  • Changes in Publishing
  • Online marketing/creating a brand
  • Do we need to include txt, email, IMs and social networking in our stories? Do characters need cell phones?
  • In children's lit, there has always been the problem of parents and how to get them out of the way. Do we now have a problem of tech? Do we need to send our characters into the wilderness or have them digitally grounded for a real story to take place?
  • How do we keep books from becoming dated before they come out?
  • How do we maintain our professional relationships and contacts?
  • Should we blog, create MySpace or Facebook pages for our characters, and upload book trailers to YouTube?

2009 Memory Fund Scholarships: Apply Now!

In July 2005, we lost two friends and passionate contributors to children's literature: Illustrator Ann Barrow and Writer Ruth Landers Glass. This loss inspired New England SCBWI to begin thinking about ways to honor these and other lost friends.

Because SCBWI was so important to both Ann and Ruth, we have decided the best way to remember these two remarkable people would be to continue their passion for helping other writers and illustrators by offering a scholarship in each of their names that would allow a writer and an illustrator to attend the New England event of their choice in the next calendar year for free.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2009 Ruth Landers Glass Writers Scholarship and the 2009 Ann Barrow Illustrators Scholarship.

Scholarship winners will receive one day's free tuition for the 2010 New England SCBWI Spring Conference or any other NE SCBWI one-day event including Encore, Salon or other one-day workshop that we hold.

Submission deadline is March 15, 2009

The winner will be announced on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at the New England Conference in Nashua, NH.

2009 New England SCBWI Conference Info

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Registration for the 2009 New England SCBWI Conference will open on January 24, 2009. The conference is again taking place at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Nashua, NH, on the weekend of April 24-26. We hope to see you there!

Conference Fee Schedule:
Saturday (SCBWI members) $140
Sunday (SCBWI members) $100
Both Saturday and Sunday (SCBWI members) $225
Saturday (non-member) $165
Sunday (non-member) $125
Both Saturday and Sunday (non-member) $275

Above fees do not include critique or special event fees.
The Crowne Plaza rate for this event is $97 per night + taxes. More information about lodging is available when you register.

Conference Info:

The workshop committee of New England SCBWI welcomes proposals for the Spring 2009
conference, "Many Voices." The focus of the 2009 conference is creating literature in many
voices and through many forms so that all children can find themselves in the stories they
read.

This is one of the largest regional SCBWI conferences, and we welcome proposals from
everyone. We also encourage artists and writers of color, those who are differently abled,
and others from underrepresented groups to propose conference workshops. In addition to
our customary emphasis on fiction, we will spotlight illustration, poetry, graphic novels, and
non-fiction.

The conference will take place Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, April 24th through 26th, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire.

2008 New England Conference Followup - Handouts

Some of the faculty at the SCBWI New England 2008 Conference have agreed to make their workshop handouts and other resources available in digital form through this website, or through links on their own sites. As we receive those documents and links, we'll upload them and update this announcement.

MyNESCBWI Social Network

Recent Articles

2010 Ruth Landers Glass Writers Scholarship
Information about this year's Ruth Landers Glass Writers Scholarship is now available on the New England SCBWI Memory Fund page.…
2010 New England Conference Registration
Registration for SCBWI New England's 2010 Annual Conference opens on Monday, 8 February! This conference will take place on…
The Ann Barrow Illustrators Scholarship
Deadline April 30 Attention, illustrators: An Ann Barrow Scholarship winner will be selected by the selection committee and awarded to…