Tag Archives: writing contests

Picture Book Basics: How to Set Up a Manuscript

Submissions for our twenty-third annual New Voices Award are now open! Do you or someone you know write for young readers? Are you a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writer hoping to break into the publishing industry for the first time? Then this picture book manuscript template is for you. Read on to learn more!

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Five Great Writing Resources for New Voices Contestants

Submissions for our twenty-third annual New Voices Award are now open! Do you or someone you know write for young readers? Are you a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writer hoping to break into the publishing industry for the first time? Then these resources are for you as you refine and finalize your manuscript. Read on for five tools from editors and writers!

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Deadline Extended for Our New Voices and New Visions Award Writing Contests

New Voices and New Visions Award Writing Contests

The deadline for our twenty-second annual New Voices Award and our ninth annual New Visions Award have been extended! The new deadline to submit your manuscript is August 15, 2021.

The New Voices Award and the New Visions Award encourage writers of color and Indigenous/Native writers 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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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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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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Lee & Low Books Announces 2018 New Visions Award Winners

New Visions Winners

New York, NY—Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, is thrilled to announce the results of its fifth annual New Visions Award for new authors of color. Established to combat the low number of authors of color writing for children and teens, the New Visions Award is given to a middle grade or young adult manuscript. Winners receive a cash prize and a publishing contract with Lee & Low Books, a children’s book publisher specializing in diversity.

Previous winners of the New Visions Award include the novels Ink and Ashes, named one of the Best Books of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, and Ahimsa, named a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for the Social Studies. This year, two manuscripts were chosen to receive the award: Twin Flames by Olivia Abtahi, and The Regent Enigma by Luisana Duarte Armendáriz. Continue reading

Five Reasons Why Your Manuscript Didn’t Win

It’s May and with the arrival of spring comes the opening of the nineteenth annual Lee & Low New Voices Award! We reviewed submissions from the past few years and identified several common pitfalls amongst the contest entries that did not win. We compiled these into the list below so that writers interested in submitting to our contest can avoid them:new voices award

 

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Announcing Our 2017 New Voices Award Winner and Honor

New Voices Award sealNew York, NY—January 18, 2018—LEE & LOW BOOKS is proud to announce that Maham Khwaja of West Hollywood, California is the winner of the company’s eighteenth annual New Voices Award. Her picture-book manuscript, The Journey, is a story of a young girl and her parents who are forced to flee their home country when violence threatens their community. In a series of beautiful, reflective poems, the protagonist describes her uncertainties as a refugee navigating a world that is not always welcoming, and her hopes for finding a new home. Continue reading