Breezers In Your Neighborhood: DECEMBER!

Already December and we've had a busy year for Breezers! Even now, we have one more workshop scheduled. And remember, if you have a book signing or a book launch or an appearance at a book fair, let us know. We can't come out and support you if we don't know where you'll be!

Ongoing through December 15th

The Illustrators' Mentorship has a few slots left as of today. Registration for the mentorship only is open through December 15th or until slots fill up. See this post for more information or go to the Southern Breeze website here.


Saturday, December 7th

What:  Writing Middle Grade vs. Young Adult
Where:  Hampton Park Library
              5345 Settingdown Road
              Cumming, GA
When:   10:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Join authors Christi J. Whitney, Tosha Sumner, and Colleen Bennett to learn the craft of writing for these diverse markets in today's market. They'll cove concepts and techniques that distinguish chapter books from young adult books for their target audiences, such as voice, vocabulary level, maturity content, authenticity, and word count.

As always, it's free! Bring your questions and bring your friends for this program brought to you by SCBWI Southern Breeze and the Forsyth County Public Library.




Sunday, December 15th

Registration opens for wik'20! We want to bring your career into sharper focus and we think wik'2020 will give you the vision to see how you can get there! We'll also be taking a keen look here at the Southern Breeze blog at all we're offering, so come back often! We have lots for you to see at wik2020!

November Is For Illustrators!

November is a busy month for Southern Breeze illustrators! You have just a few days before these awesome art opportunities open:

 Annual Illustrators’ Mentorship

 Opens for Registration November 15th- November 30th 

Every year we invite our Illustrators to take part in this program with a children’s book Art Director or professional illustrator to gain insight into the process of creating children’s books. Craft development, valuable critique, and career advice are typical benefits received from participating in the mentorship program.

This year’s mentor is Saho Fujii, Senior Art Director, Little Brown Books for Young Readers.

The mentees are given detailed assignments from the mentor and will work 6 – 8 weeks to develop work based on a prompt provided. Feedback will be given throughout the process and final art will be critiqued and displayed at Illustrator’s Day in March. Participants will have a finished portfolio piece by the end of the program.

There is limited space (only 10 spots available!) in this program and participants are chosen on a first come first serve basis. We sold out within the first day last year so register early! You’ll find the link to register at the Southern Breeze website here. (The registration link will go live on November 15th.)


Liz Conrad Illustrator Award Applications 

Accepted November 15th – January 1st 

In honor of illustrator Liz Conrad, who created many wonderful children’s books, Southern Breeze has established a merit based award for our regional illustrators.

This year’s judge for the award is Christy T. Ewers at the CAT Agency. For more information about Christy, see the agency website here.

The Liz Conrad Award will be given to one promising illustrator in the children’s book field and will provide:

Free attendance at our Illustrators’ Day/Illustrator’s Intensive
Free attendance at our annual Conference
Review comments from the judge determining the recipient of the award

The Liz Conrad Award is open to Southern Breeze SCBWI members only. If you would like to apply, email your application and submission to Southern-Breeze-IC@scbwi.org beginning November 15th (deadline: January 1, 2020). Please use email subject: LIZ CONRAD 2020 (You can find the application and further instructions on the Southern Breeze website here.)

As always, if you have questions, contact the Southern Breeze Illustrator Coordinator, TeMika Grooms at Southern-Breeze-IC@scbwi.org.

Extended Deadline for Illustrators!

Good news for illustrators!

You still have time to apply for the Liz Conrad Award! The deadline has been extended to January 15th so get out your pens, your brushes, your creativity, and get to work! Not sure what the Liz Conrad Award is? Read on...

Southern Breezer, Liz Conrad, created many wonderful books for children. In her honor, our chapter has established a merit-based award for illustrators. Now that we have only one conference per year, this is the only award available to illustrators.

The award will be given to one promising illustrator, and provides free attendance at our Illustrator's Day/Illustrator's Intensive, as well as free tuition for the annual conference. Entry for this contest is FREE! Find out more information and get your application here.

Also, there are a few openings left in the Illustrator Mentorship with Nicki Carmack available at wik'18. You can find all the details about this wonderful illustrator opportunity here. But don't delay because the deadline for the first stage of this mentorship is also January 15th!

There's no time like now to ignite your illustration career, so come join us and create today!