rhcrayon: The Blog! - SCBWI-LA Writer's Day 2010 Photos Are Up!

01:55 pm - SCBWI-LA Writer's Day 2010 Photos Are Up!

SCBWI-LA WRITER'S DAY 2010
Saturday, April 10th
San Gabriel, CA

 
Books by this year's Writer's Day speakers include: Agnes Parker . . . Girl in Progress, by Kathleen O'Dell; Going Bovine, by Libba Bray (winner of this year's Printz Award!); and Old Cricket, written by Lisa Wheeler and illustrated by Ponder Goembel.
Also pictured above: Robin Mellom with her agent Jill Corcoran (another of our esteemed speakers today!), and authors Lee Wind and Eve Porinchak, kickin' it at lunch.

Hi, Everyone!

Photos from SCBWI-LA Writer's Day 2010 are up! Check them out on Flickr by clicking any of the images above, or by clicking the foregoing link. Feel free to use these in your blogs or anywhere, and please credit me if you do (Rita Crayon Huang). I've also added these photos to Facebook here. You're welcome to tag yourselves and others there--or to untag yourselves, if that is your will. Better yet, if any photos make you uncomfortable, let me know and I will pull them immediately. (The necessary disclaimer every time I post photos from SCBWI.)

This year's Writer's Day was absolutely amazing. I've inserted tidbits from my notes in the captions on Flickr, but the highly unoriginal bottom line is that this day was terrific. All the speakers were so warm and engaging, and packed their sessions with practical insights. And delivered them hilariously!!

Do you doubt it? HarperCollins Editor Rachel Abrams, picture book goddess Lisa Wheeler, agent of fabulousness Jill Corcoran, middle grade master Kathleen O'Dell, and YA queen (and Printz-Award winner) Libba Bray? The line-up was incredible. Congratulations to Claudia and Edie for putting together another amazing Writer's Day, along with all the other volunteers!



The SCBWI-LA Writer's Day line-up this year: Just brilliant.

A doubly hearty congratulations goes out to my good friend Ken Min for winning this year's SCBWI-LA Scholarship Contest--for his illustration of the cryptic line, "Sometimes I wear them to lunch." I started going nuts when they began describing the winning drawing, and the room blew up when they announced Ken's name. Ken's a well-liked guy!



The winning illustration of this SCBWI-LA Writer's Day Scholarship Contest. Posted here with permission, and described by the anonymous judge (who is a very "hot," high-profile art director, they tell us) as filled with a dark humor that's immediately appealing to kids. Check out more of Ken's great art at http://kenminart.com.

Mary Peterson and I called up Ken during lunch and spilled the news. (Were we not supposed to? I hope he acted surprised later!)



Mary Peterson with her newest book--hot hot hot off the press--Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch. This one she co-authored and illustrated, and it is so much joy--as are all of Mary's books.
Several of us also got to chat with Libba Bray at lunch. What fun! This next photo was her idea, heh:



(Thank you, Lee, for taking these on my camera!)

While we're on the subject of contests, I would like to say that I got so nervous when they started announcing manuscript prizes at the end of the day. My prize from winning last year's Middle Grade Fiction category was attending this year's Writer's Day for free (yay!!), and a sympathetic dizziness overtook me when they started up again. (Or maybe I was just feeling the buzzing and dizziness of the contestants around me?)

Congrats to Graeme Stone for winning the YA Fiction category this year!! I just knew he was going to win. And congrats to Paula Mayerson and Jenni Bielicki for their Honorable Mention and big win, respectively, in the NonFiction category--both for picture books. Well done!!



Graeme Stone, winner of this year's SCBWI-LA Writer's Day contest for YA Fiction, embraces the school's COUGARS emblem, which I normally try so hard to avoid photographing.
Paula Mayerson gets called up for her NonFiction Honorable Mention (Westside Represent!! GO, PAULA!!).
Jenni Bielicki's picture book wins in NonFiction!!

Once again, to view all photos from Writer's Day and read recaps from the sessions, go to Flickr here, or to Facebook here.

Enjoy your day, everyone! Cheers!

Rita

P.S. If you'd like to view my photos from other SCBWI events, including past Writer's Days, check out my "SCBWI Events" Collection on Flickr. I'm not an official photographer, but I like doing it. My photos from the past two SCBWI Summer Conferences have also been posted at the SCBWI Web site.