Category Archives: New Voices/New Visions Award

Information on our New Voices Award and New Visions Awards, two writing contests for unpublished authors of color.

Announcing Lee & Low Books’ 2020 New Voices Award Winner and Honor

New Voices Award WinnerNew York, NY—January 19, 2021—LEE & LOW BOOKS is excited to announce that Vanessa Lewis of Hawthorne, California, is the winner of the company’s twenty-first annual New Voices Award. Her picture-book manuscript, Shamu, addresses homelessness in America through the story of a young girl whose resourcefulness and confidence help her meet everyday challenges at home and school.

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Interview: New Visions Award Winner Tracy Occomy Crowder

Recently, we announced that Tracy Occomy Crowder has won the seventh annual New Visions Award for her manuscript, Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key. In this blog post, we ask Tracy about her inspiration behind her winning manuscript and her writing experience.

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Lee & Low Books Announces 2020 New Visions Award Winner

After this week’s sad news about our co-founder, we are happy to be able to share some happy news to end the week!

Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, is thrilled to announce the results of its seventh annual New Visions Award for new authors of color. This year, Tracy Occomy Crowder has won the New Visions Award for her manuscript, Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key.

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Submissions Now Open for Our New Voices and New Visions Award Writing Contests

New Voices and New Visions Award

Submissions for our twenty-first annual New Voices Award and our eighth annual New Visions Award are now open! Do you or someone you know write for young readers? Are you an author of color or Native author hoping to break in to the publishing industry for the first time? Don’t miss this terrific opportunity to have your work considered for publication by Lee & Low Books.

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Announcing Lee & Low Books’ 2019 New Voices Honor

New York, NY—January 16, 2020—LEE & LOW BOOKS is excited to announce Belen Medina Cabot of San Francisco, California, as the New Voices Award Honor for her picture-book manuscript The Seesaws. Inspired by current events, Belen’s story follows two children who live on either side of the United States-Mexico border and the creative solution that allows them to play together.

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Submissions Open for Our New Voices and New Visions Award Writing Contests

Do you or someone you know write for young readers? Are you an author of color or Native author hoping to break in to the publishing industry for the first time? Submissions for our twentieth annual New Voices Award and our seventh annual New Visions Award are now open! Don’t miss this terrific opportunity to have your work considered for publication by Lee & Low Books.

The New Voices Award and the New Visions Award encourage writers of color and Native nations to submit their work to Lee & Low Books, a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent. Winners of each award receive a $2,000 cash prize and a first time publishing contract with Lee & Low Books.

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Lee & Low Books Announces 2019 New Visions Award Winner and Honor

New York, NY—Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, is thrilled to announce the results of its sixth annual New Visions Award for new authors of color. This year, Monica Zepeda has won the New Visions Award for her manuscript, Boys of the Beast. Michelle Jones Coles’ manuscript Woke received the New Visions Award Honor.

Established to increase the number of authors of color writing for children and teens, the New Visions Award is given to a middle grade or young adult manuscript by a new author of color or Native author. Winners receive a cash prize and a publishing contract with Lee & Low Books, a children’s book publisher specializing in diversity. Previous winners include Ink and Ashes by Valynne Maetani, named one of the Best Books of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, and Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar, named a Notable Social Studies Trade Book.

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Announcing Our 2018 New Voices Award Winner and Honor

New Voices Award WinnerNew York, NY—January 22, 2019—LEE & LOW BOOKS is pleased to announce that SD Youngwolf of Moffat, Colorado is the winner of the company’s nineteenth annual New Voices Award. His picture book manuscript, The Echo People, is the story of two children who go on a special journey with their grandfather and, through their different experiences, learn how we create our own realities through the words and actions we give to the world.

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Interview: New Voices Award Winner Rita Lorraine Hubbard on Writing a Picture Book Biography

new voices award sealAt Lee & Low Books we are always interested in biographies of unsung heroes. Stories of lesser-known individuals who used their talents and overcame obstacles to achieve their dreams and serve their society fill our shelves of published titles. Each year our New Voices Award judges consider dozens of biographical submissions on the lookout for a winning combination of compelling characters and well-researched storytelling. In this blog post, we interviewed Rita Lorraine Hubbard, the 2012 New Voices Award winner, about her biography Hammering for Freedom: The William Lewis Story, which tells the story of William “Bill” Lewis, an enslaved man who earned enough money being a blacksmith and set a daring plan in motion: to free his family. Continue reading

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting to the New Voices Writing Contest

With the New Voices submission deadline quickly approaching, aspiring picture book writers preparing to submit to the contest may be asking themselves “Am I ready to send off my story?”. If you are a writer grappling with this question, you’re in luck! We’ve assembled a checklist of ten questions you should ask yourself before submitting to the 2018 New Voices Award writing contest:

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