2023 iBbY recognition for Allayne Webster

Congratulations Allayne Webster for being selected by iBby for an

Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities - 'Sensitive'

see here for details

A YA paperback for 11+ published in 2019 by UQP

International Board on Books for Young People - Category 2 - Portrayals of Disability. This section includes picture books, fiction, and nonfiction titles that depict people who are d/Deaf or have disabilities. Two Australian titles were selected.

'Sensitive' is about a teenage girl living with chronic atopic eczema. It was shortlisted for the 2020 Australian Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards, and has since been published in Russia.

Fantastic recognition. Well done!

Australia Council Literature Grant for Deborah Abela

Congratulations to author Deborah Abela on receiving an Australia Council Literature Grant for

The Kindness Project

A middle grade verse novel for 7-12 year olds due for publication 2024 by Penguin Random House.

When a lonely girl helps her Nanna escape from a prison-like nursing home – AKA Alcatraz - she not only saves her Nanna but reunites her fractured family and makes her first real friends.

Each year the Australia Council awards grants for new work and Deborah was lucky enough to receive one for her new novel.

Congratulations Deborah. Fantastic news!

Double honours for Marjorie Crosby-Fairall

Congratulations to illustrator and dynamic Australia East committee member Marjorie Crosby-Fairall, who is the recipient of not one but TWO grants awarded by SCBWI international.

The 2022 Don Freeman Grant - Published category

and

The SCBWI 2022 Honor WOOP Grant.

Don Freeman was a renowned illustrator and an early supporter of SCBWI. He established this award to enable picture book illustrators to further their understanding, training, and work in the picture book genre.

The WOOP Grant? It’s for Work of Outstanding Progress.

Three cheers for Marjorie - woop, woop, WOOP!