The New Voices Award is given biennially to an unpublished writer of color or Native/Indigenous writer for a picture book manuscript. This contest will reopen in April 2025. Please check back then for additional information about how to enter the contest.
Established in 2000, the New Voices Award is given biennially to an unpublished writer of color or Native/Indigenous writer for a picture book manuscript. Previous winners include award-winning titles such as As Fast As Words Could Fly, Juna’s Jar, It Jes’ Happened, and Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds.
Manuscripts may be FICTION, NON-FICTION, or POETRY for children ages 5 to 12. Manuscripts should address the needs of children of color or Native/Indigenous children by providing stories with which they can identify and relate, and which promote a greater understanding of one another. Themes relating to different family structures, gender identity, LGBTQ+ communities, or disabilities are also of interest.
Carren Jao of Los Angeles, California, is the winner of the company’s twenty-third annual New Voices Award. Her picture-book manuscript The Shape of Love paints a vibrant, evocative portrait of a mother staying connected to her family by sending treats and supplies back to the Philippines through the tradition of balikbayan boxes.
Tyla LaGoy from Eugene, Oregon, will receive the New Voices Award Honor for her picture-book manuscript SPEAK. With lush, poetic writing, the manuscript follows a child pushing through discomfort as they learn to speak a new language. The story is inspired by Tyla’s own experience learning her tribal language, Chinuk Wawa.
The New Voices Award Contest will reopen in April 2025. Please check back then for additional information about how to enter the contest.
