The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators recently announced the winners of its inaugural Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards, selected by votes cast by the organization’s worldwide membership. Designed to provide additional exposure for new books published in all pockets of the globe, the award divides the SCBWI’s 22,000 members into 15 regional divisions, and allows members to vote for one book published by a member in their division. This year’s winning titles, all released in 2010, include 10 books published in various regions of the U.S. and five books published in other countries. A list of the Crystal Kite winners can be found here.
SCBWI also bestows the Golden Kite Awards annually in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, picture book text and picture book illustration. Unlike the Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards, that award is selected by a committee of writers and illustrators who work in each genre rather than by a general membership vote. Lin Oliver, executive director of SCBWI, told PW that the Crystal Kite Awards were initiated “to acknowledge books, published by members in various regions, which might be off the general radar screen, and to give members all over the world a chance to cast a vote. It’s a very democratic process.”
Oliver notes that a principle benefit of the Crystal Kite Awards is its ability to spotlight books with regional slants that have a broader appeal. “Some of the 2011 award winners, like The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, are already bestsellers. Others, like Rosa’s Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights by Jo S. Kittinger, an Alabama author, will now be given national recognition.” Conversely, the award also gives a winning book what Oliver calls “local traction,” garnering publicity in winners’ own communities. SCBWI has created holographic stickers for the covers of winning titles.
The Crystal Kite Award-winning authors will be invited to their regional SCBWI conferences to accept the award, and one of the 15 winners will be selected to give the keynote address at the organization’s national conference in New York in late January. Given the international scope of the award and its breakdown by region, “The Crystal Kite is both a global initiative and a local initiative, which was our goal,” observes Oliver. “It’s a wonderful way to bring more deserving books into the public eye.”
