Submission guidelines
Eligibility:
You must be a current member to nominate your book and at the time the award announcement is made. This award is open to SCBWI authors, illustrators, and translators.
Nominated books must be a PAL book first published within the previous calendar year.
This award is for PAL books; independently published books cannot be nominated.
Guidelines:
Submit your book through the CRYSTAL KITE Banner in your MEMBER HOME. (You must be logged into the website to access your Member Home.)
You must have previously added a book to your Member Profile. (To do this, click the MY WORK tab in your Member Home and click on SHARE MY WORK.) Make sure your book has a 2023 publication date and a publisher from the dropdown list of verified PAL publishers.
When you click on the CRYSTAL KITE Banner, all of your eligible books will be waiting for you. (If you do not see your book, double check the MY WORK tab in your Member Home.)
Only books published in 2023 will be eligible for this year's Crystal Kite Awards.
Only submit one book per member.
There is a space in the submission form for you to add your book's co-creators. (If another member adds you as a co-creator, you are still eligible to submit another title on your own account.)
The Crystal Kite submissions will be open until April 30, 2024 at midnight PST.
Member voting will begin in May. All SCBWI members are welcome to vote on their favorite books from each division. Members may vote once each round in as many divisions as they want.
Round one voting deadline has been EXTENDED. New dates TBA soon.
Social Media Rules:
We have strict anti-spamming rules. Once your book is entered you may promote the award on social media and to personal friends. You may invite people to vote for your book. You may not:
Send emails to people you do not know to promote your book.
Use any SCBWI discussion board of listserv to promote your book.
Doing either of these will immediately flag your book for deletion in the Crystal Kite Awards.
Winners are announced in June in a press release and on the SCBWI website/social media. Winners receive a crystal, engraved kite award, an opportunity to present at a regional conference, a silver sticker for their winning book, and one winner will be chosen to present at the SCBWI Summer Conference.
Divisions
United States:
Atlantic (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland)
California, Hawaii
Midsouth (Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana)
Midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio)
New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
New York
Southeast (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama)
Southwest (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Southern Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico)
Texas, Oklahoma
West (Washington, Northern Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota)
International:
Australia, New Zealand
Canada
Europe, Latin America, Africa
Middle East, India, Asia
United Kingdom, Ireland