On March 15, I joined the Golden Kite Award finalists and hundreds of other SCBWI members for the virtual Golden Kite Awards! Although we couldn’t meet in person, it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces (including Jason Reynolds, who gave an amazing keynote address!) and lovely comments in the chat!
And I’m overwhelmed with joy that RED, WHITE, AND WHOLE has won the Golden Kite Award for Middle Grade Fiction! CUBA IN MY POCKET by my friend Adrianna Cuevas won the Honor award, and I am humbled to be in the company of Adrianna and the other finalists — Victoria Piontek, Sundee T. Frazier, and Supriya Kelkar. The award and honor winners selected charities that SCBWI will donate to on their behalf; I chose to donate to the World Literacy Foundation.
All the finalists learned who had won in real time, so there were some lovely spontaneous moments of laughter and thanks and tears. We had all been asked to prepare speeches ahead of time. You can watch the Middle Grade Fiction announcement and my speech about writing during these difficult times or see below for the whole program.
I am so honored that RED, WHITE, AND WHOLE, a book of my heart, received this prestigious award. SCBWI is the reason I met so many friends and critique partners, and without my writer friends, I couldn’t have written a thing.
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