And the Golden Kite Goes to...

It's no secret that I heart SCBWI! I've committed my time to the organization, learned so much from it, and have made amazing friends.

Today, I'm THRILLED to be able to post about the 2009 SCBWI Golden Kite recipients and to announce my own SCBWI-related news.

But first, the Golden Kite goes to...

Yes, yes, and triple YES. Bonny Becker is the winner of the 2009 Golden Kite for Picture Book Text for A VISITOR FOR BEAR (illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton and published by Candlewick).

Yay, Bonny! Bonny is a Seattle-area writer and one of those above mentioned SCBWI friends. You can read a little more about her recent SCBWI Western Washington appearance HERE.

Also taking home the Gold...

Steve Watkins gets the win for Fiction with his debut young adult novel DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN (Candlewick).

The Nonfiction category goes to A LIFE IN THE WILD: GEORGE SCHALLER'S STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LAST GREAT BEASTS by Pamela S. Turner (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

And, LAST NIGHT by Hyewon Yum is the winner for Picture Book Illustration (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Golden Kite Honor Recipients are:

Fiction: THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary E. Pearson (This book has also been chosen as this month's feature over at readergirlz. Way to go, Mary!)

Nonfiction: THE MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE: SUPER NOVAE, DARK ENERGY, AND BLACK HOLES by Ellen Jackson; photographed and illustrated by Nic Bishop

Picture Book Text: BEFORE JOHN WAS A JAZZ GIANT by Carole Boston Weathersford, illustrated by Sean Qualls

Picture Book Illustration: I LOVE MY NEW TOY by Mo Willems

The SCBWI Golden Kite is unique in that it also recognizes the editors and art directors of these books. Congrats to Candlewick and FSG for sweeping up the gold!

The awards will be handed out at this summer's SCBWI Conference in Los Angeles. Mark your calendar NOW for August 7-10. If you've been to the summer conference, you know it's not to be missed. If you haven't, I'm telling you, IT'S NOT TO BE MISSED.

Now for news I've just been dying to tell you (and it's all related to all of the above)!

I've had the privilege of attending the last three summer conference as one of the regional advisors. I've since hung up that hat. But a new one was flung my way. I grabbed it, put it on, and I'm so, so thrilled to tell you that I will be wearing it as part of...

SCBWI TEAM BLOG

Many of you likely followed Alice Pope, official blogger of the SCBWI Winter Conference (and CWIM Goddess). If you haven't seen her conference posts, check them out HERE.

Not surprising, the conference blog was a hit (and still is) but poor thing blistered her fingers doing so much blogging. And the summer conference is even bigger! How could it be left to only ten tiny fingers. So SCBWI asked Alice to assemble a team--SCBWI TEAM BLOG.

And I'm turning circles over the fact that little ol' me, over here at Cuppa Jolie, has been asked to be part of this team along with Jaime Temairik, Lee Wind, Paula Yoo, and Suzanne Young and, of course, Team Blog Leader Alice Pope. Watch for lots of SCBWI Conference news right here. I'll always let you know about happenings over at the SCBWI Conference Blog.