Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award

Each year the Children’s Book Committee honors emerging writers and writers/illustrators with the Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Awards. Winners present their work to the public at Discovery Evening (Fall 2020). Literary agents from top firms will read the winning submissions and offer critiques.

Eligibility

• • Entrants must be residents of New England; may not have published a book in any genre including adult fiction and nonfiction; and may not have a book under contract to be published.

  • Entrants may not be signed with an agent. Entries that are out on submission to agents are allowed.

  • Writers who have self-published are eligible, but the submitted work must be unpublished.

  • Writers who have edited books or done work-for-hire books are eligible.

  • One entry only per person in one of the following four categories: picture books, novels, poetry, and nonfiction. Previous winners of the contest are ineligible.

Submission Guidelines

ll work should be—in both format and quality—ready for consideration by a publisher or agent. The Committee does not determine ahead of time the number of winners or the categories to be represented.

Writing Sample: Text should be approximately 10 pages in length, double-spaced, 12 point font, though picture books may be shorter. Please include a cover page with the title, your contact info, and the category for which you are submitting.

• • Picture Books: Send complete text. If you are a writer and not an illustrator, there is no need to send along illustrations. Author/illustrators should include sample illustrations.

  • Middle grade or YA Novels: Send one or two chapters, and a one page synopsis.

  • Poetry: Send up to ten poems.

  • Nonfiction: Send one or two chapters, plus a brief outline or table of contents.

Synopsis: Please include a brief synopsis of the writing sample.

Biographical Statement about your experience and interest in the field.

Submit a single file with documents in this order: Writing Sample, Synopsis, and Biography.

Past Winners:

Many Discovery Award winners are now published writers, including: Mackenzie Van Engelenhoven,Katie Bayerl, Rebecca Roan, Kristy Acevedo, Lisa Rogers, Adrienne Kisner, Kip Wilson, Jeanne Zulick Ferrulo, Michelle A. Cusolito, M.P. Barker, Annie Cardi, Heather Demetrios, Erin Dionne, Johanna Knowles, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Sara Pinto, Jame Richards, Anna Staniszewski, Tara Sullivan, Kim Ablon Whitney, and Janet Ruth Young.

2019

Anthony Lathrop, Captain Mavrik Takes A Holiday

Rebekah Lowell, The Road to After

Krista Surprenant, Remember Where You're From

2018

Orrin Hannratty, Shadowtide: An American Monster Story

Cassie Gustafson, Finding Erica Strange

Jane Hawksworth, Anna Wynne

Laura Quinlan, Alone Against the Wind

2017

Abi Cushman, Snow Day for Goat and Badger

Laurie Warchol, Dragonfly: Waiting for Wings

Kip Wilson, White Rose

2016

Adrienne Kisner, Dear Rachel Maddow

Sera Rivers, The Wicked Ones

Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo, Ruby in the Sky

Lisa Rogers, Mr. Marshall’s Red Wheelbarrow

Michelle A. Cusolito, Flying Deep

2015

Kristy Acevedo, Consider

Alice Caldwell, Sly as a Sheep

Sheryl DePaolo, The Child Star

2014

Rebecca Roan, Dragons Get Colds Too

Pamela Sonn, Jedediah Buxton, The Human Calculator

Mackenzie Van Engelenhoven, The Shadow Boys are Breaking

2013

Anna Boll, Control. Crush.

Katherine Quimby, Three Minutes Thirty

2012

Heather Demetrios, Streaming

Amitha Knight, Landwalker

2011

Annie Cardi, Queen of the Air

Tara Sullivan, Golden Boy

2010

Bette Anne Rieth, Greetings From the Miracle

Linda Zajac, Ice Birds in a Warming Land

Heather Jessen, I Won a Robot in a Raffle

2009

Maria Gianferrera, Terrific Tongues

Anna Staniszewski, The Tinkerers

J. James Keels, Starving Hysterical Naked

Shelagh Smith, A Mouthful of Straw

2008

Tamara Ellis Smith, A Marble Looks Like Home

Colleen Ellis, The Alphabet Looking Beyond the Letter

Tracy Miller Geary, The Summer of My Movie Star

Jame Richards, Three Rivers Rising

2007

Joanne Perkins, Ice Harvest

Cindy Faughnan, Sheldon

Joe Anastasio, The Mist

Katie Bayerl, Smart Girl

2006

Erin Dionne, Beauty Binge

J.C. Phillips for her Illustrations

Hollis Shore, The Curve of the World

Phoebe Sinclair, The Truth About Liaa

2005

Johanna Knowles, Lessons From a Dead Girl

Ammi-Joan Paquette, China Blue

Tara Nickerson, Letting Go

Mike Arena, The Man Who Jumped From Space