2022 Tassy Walden Award Winners

The 2022 winners of Connecticut's Tassy Walden Award were announced earlier this summer. This award is a competition for unpublished Connecticut children's book writers and illustrators. Over the years, a number of finalists and winners have gone on to publication. Michele Manning and Kristina Giliberto (see below) are former or present members of my writing group. Really, people, think about finding a writers' group.

Picture Book Text

Winner: Elizabeth Donnelly--Stacking Stones

Honorable Mention: Sherry Peterson--Is There Something in My Teeth?

Finalists: 

• Katherine Donahue--Monsters Say What
• Kristina Giliberto--The Horse Listener
• Claudia Lebel--Night Blooms
• Rachel Shupin--There Are No Bad Guys In This Book

Illustrated Picture Book Writer-Illustrator

Finalist: Jillian Aurigemma--Rylee Finds A Family

Middle Grade Novel

Winner: Michelle Manning--Nooks and Crannies

Honorable Mention: Ginger Merante--Lore

Finalists:

• Jeanne Davies--Cast Away
• Debi DiTomaso--Gram Ridder
• Jane Pronsky-Brothers--Brooke Skyler & The Quest for Mysterium
• Lisa Yelon--Cook Me A Winner

Young Adult Novel

Winner: Paige Classey Przybylski--Inheritance

Honorable Mention: Debbie McGinley--The Surge

Finalist: Kelly Kandra Hughes--The Happiest Dog On The Internet

Illustrator Portfolio

Winner: Ann Marie Drury

Finalist: Marcus Fort

Congratulations and good luck moving forward to all the people on these lists.

The Kind Of Writers' Group You Should Be Looking For

My writers' group held its first meeting last night (Zoom) since the beginning of the pandemic, where I learned that today is the deadline for unpublished Connecticut children's authors and illustrators to submit to the Tassy Walden Award. This is a local award with big significance, because a number of winners and finalists have gone on to be published.

Over the years, quite a few of my writers' group colleagues have been among those winners and finalists. One of them, Linda Zajac, had a book published last year. Another, Nancy Tandon, had her first book published last month. As recently as 2020, our group had a member win the award for picture book text.

This seems like a good opportunity for an Original Content Twentieth Anniversary rerun of a 2015 post on the Tassy Awards that includes an elaborate taekwondo analogy. I'd hate to pass up one of those.

 

Sunday, May 31, 2015 The Weekend Writer: A Writers' Dojang

Tandon, Howley, Sherlock DiLorenzo

On Wednesday I wrote about this year's Tassy Walden Award winners. What I didn't mention is that three of this year's honorees, Nancy Tandon, Holly Howley, and Heather Sherlock DiLorenzo, come from the same writers' group. These three writers made up thirteen percent of the Tassy winners over all. However, some of those winners were illustrators. These three women made up twenty percent of the winning writers.

In past years, the group had three other members who placed well. And I believe there are two members who were Tassy winners prior to joining the group. One of them went on to be successfully published. Oh, and another member competed against published writers for a spot with The Great CT Caper and won one.

2015 Tassy Honorees

I've written about writers' groups for The Weekend Writer Project before. As I said then, "there are writers' groups, and there are writers' groups." How to explain so much achievement from this one group? Well, I happened to join it last October and have a little knowledge of what goes down there. You know how I love martial arts analogies? Yeah. I feel one coming on.

Training

These people train. They attend NESCBWI workshops and retreats. They read in their genre. They keep up on what is being published in their field. Referring back to Marlo Garnsworthy's recent blog post, they don't assume that they should "automatically know how to write a publishable story." 

Maintaining the Mind of a Beginner

In a martial arts training hall, people of all ranks train together. If the instructor is introducing a yellow belt-level skill, the black belts in the room work on it, too, because there's always the possibility that they missed something when they learned it, there's always the possibility they can improve that skill. They cannot allow themselves to be blinded by the belief that they already know this stuff. They have to maintain the mind of a beginner. (Humility is also a good thing on a very practical level.)

That's how the people in this writing group conduct themselves, also. If they attend a program, they consider how the content can improve their work. If they get feedback on a submission, they don't walk away believing the agent/editor just doesn't get it. Within workshop meetings, they try not to respond to critiques from other members. The point is to listen to what others have to say and assess it.   

Collaboration

In the taekwondo school I attended, people of equal rank usually trained together, trying to share knowledge, the idea being that what one student missed last week, another will have picked up on. They were trying to learn from one another. Even in the tai chi school I attend now, where there is no belt system, students who are just learning a form are positioned within the group of more experienced students during practice, so the newbies can model their movements on the people who already know the form.

The people in this writing group do something similar. "How about this for the first chapter title?" "You might be able to eliminate that first page." One writer might be able to pick up on something another writer has missed.

Getting Up Off the Mat 

Getting knocked down isn't that big an issue in martial arts training. Getting up again is.

The people in this workshop submit their work. If the work comes back, they train some more and submit again. You cannot stay down and move forward, too.

Don't Care For Martial Arts Metaphors?

In the event that you don't love martial arts metaphors the way I do, you can phrase the reasons for this writers' group's success another way: These people study. They keep an open mind about their work. They work together. They persevere.

If you're at the point of looking for a writers' group, this is the kind of group you hope to find.

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.

 

2020 Tassy Walden Awards

Connecticut’s 2020 Tassy Walden Awards winners and finalists have been announced. This is a significant award in this state, because so many winners and finalists were later published.

The Winners Are

• Picture Book Text--Natasha Garnett for Daniela Makes Her Way   
• Illustrated Picture Book Writer/Illustrator--Gabriella Svenningsen for What Is A Memory?
• Middle Grade Novel--Paula Kay McLaughlin for Renala: Sydney Parks & the Bayab Tree
• Young Adult Novel--Katie Tietjen for In a Nutshell: The Case of the Lady in the Bathtub 
• Illustrator Portfolio Finalist--Tessa Griffin

A virtual awards reception will be held on May 27 at 7 PM