The 2021 Tassy Walden Award Ceremony Is Coming Up Next Week--You Can Be There!

Every year since 2001, the Shoreline Arts Alliance in Connecticut has sponsored the Tassy Walden Award, a competition for unpublished children's authors and illustrators in this state. This year's winners and finalists have been announced, and the awards ceremony is next Wednesday, May 26, at 7:00 PM ET. It....is...virtual!!!!

This Year's Winners And Finalists

Picture Book Text

Winner: Sabrina Petersen--Postcards from Papi

Finalists: Patricia Finnegan--We are the Vel-Crows

                Bethany Jensen--Ballerhino

                Jodi Kelly--The Allergic Alligator

                Stephanie Yu Lim--The One and Only Carnegie Hall

 

Illustrated Picture Book Writer/Illustrator

 

Finalists: Thomas Drew--The Night of the Jangler 

                 Pamela Hanks--Paige and Webb: Ski Adventure 

 

Middle Grade Novel

 

Winner: Rudy Vener--Iceteroid 

Finalists: Miriam Giskin--You Bet

                 Kimberly Mach--Beneath the Straw

                 Dawn Michelle Mancarella--Orchard of Sorrows 

                 Jackie Mead--The Missing Mask

                 Cynthia Sygrove--Kate of Fayerweather Island 

 

Young Adult Novel 

Winner: William Ollayos--Lightening Born

 

Honorable Mention: Paige Classey Przybylski--Heavy Lightness

 

The Tassy Walden Award is important in this state because a number of winners and finalists have gone on to publication. This is not a one-and-done award. It's often a stepping stone to other things.

This Year's Ceremony

 

This year's ceremony features a speaker, author Nancy Tandon, whose first two books will be published next year. One of them, The Ghost of Spruce Point, was a finalist for the Tassy Award in the middle grade category. She also happens to be a member of my writers' group, which, yes, is a way of making this about me, but also an attempt at some professional transparency.

 

You can register to hear Nancy and, you know, attend an awards ceremony! 

I'm going to have to fix myself up a bit for this, in case it's a Zoom event where you may be seen by others (versus a webinar where you're not ), because I'll actually know some of the other audience members.