Happy New Year! We are thrilled to welcome in this fresh start by congratulating our 2022 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge Scholarship winners!

The 12 x 12 Scholarship Fund started in 2014, when the 12 x 12 community generously donated funds to provide four scholarships in two categories — Diversity and Financial Need — for pre-published picture book authors. Since 2016, our members have donated enough money to fund SIX scholarships per year! The purpose behind these scholarships is to cultivate underrepresented voices in children’s picture books and to provide an opportunity for dedicated writers to join 12 x 12 who might not otherwise be able to. You can find out more details about the 12 x 12 Scholarship Fund on our Scholarship Page.

The submissions this year were the strongest we ever seen, which made our decision so difficult. In fact, we couldn’t narrow it down to just six winners. 12 x 12 members donated enough for seven scholarships so we have seven scholarship recipients this year! Each recipient receives a GOLD membership to the 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge and a lifetime membership to The Complete Picture Book Submissions System.

It is with great pleasure, and sincere thanks to the 12 x 12 community, that we announce the 2022 Diversity and Financial Need Scholarship recipients.

2022 Scholarship Recipients

Alexia Andoni discovered she loved to write in elementary school when her teachers encouraged her to turn her stories into bound books. She relocated her family’s typewriter to her room and spent hours typing up plotless stories about lost dogs and school bullies. As a middle schooler, writing books was no longer fashionable, but Alexia continued, secretly journaling and writing poetry. Although she drifted away from writing in later years, her love for writing was reignited as she began her career teaching young children.

Now, Alexia is a Child Development Specialist and teacher by day (helping other children grow their love for reading and writing) and a picture book writer and illustrator by night. Alexia lives with her family in Michigan where she is the co-coordinator of her local SCBWI Shop Talk.

Alexia says, “For as long as I can remember, I have been a teacher – first with my dolls and cousins, then as a nanny, camp counselor, tutor, and classroom educator. Over the years, I have worked with learners of all ages from birth through college. I see writing for children as an extension of my passion for teaching. I hope my books will broaden perspectives, build empathy, and help children feel seen, valued, and empowered. Overall, my mission is to help children develop a lifelong love for reading and learning.”

Daniele Arndt is a picture book writer and an active member of StoryStorm and three critique groups. She received an honorable mention in Vivian Kirkfield’s 2021 #50PreciousWords writing contest. She was also a finalist in Justin Colón’s 2019 #PBChat writing mentorship. When Daniele isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family, camping, walking in the woods or anywhere near water, going to church, and playing Mario Kart and board games with her kids.

Daniele says, “I write for kids because I love to read. I have ADD, and when I was young, reading was the only thing that made me forget about my learning struggles. Reading made me feel like anything was possible, and I want to help other kids feel like that too. I hope to do that by creating humorous stories for them. Also, my daughter had severe separation anxiety for years, and I did everything I could to make her laugh. Picturing kids laughing and forgetting about their worries because of something I wrote makes me happy.”

Growing up, Eileen Mayo was never that kid with her nose in a book. Instead, you would find her outside climbing trees, riding bikes, sliding down hills in cardboard boxes, and playing ball. She was, however, always a writer. Commandeering her first typewriter from the donate pile, she wrote stories and plays for her and her sister to perform in the garage for their parents.

With a BA in Journalism and a minor in Art, she worked in advertising. But, after her first son was diagnosed with a learning disability, she set aside her career and chose to open her own childcare business. Later, after her youngest was also diagnosed with severe autism, and intellectual disability Eileen knew her place was with kids. So, for 28 years, Eileen loved and cared for children, where the deep love of picture books began. Passing on a sense of adventure and anything is possible attitude exploring and learning together.

Eileen says, “Little kids are extraordinary. Open and honest, unfiltered and unfettered by custom, they are both refreshing and hilarious. They won’t hesitate to tell you your nose is big or ask any question that’s on their mind. They live in a world of whys and how comes, where anything is possible and will probably happen in the next minute. Kids are always up for a laugh, and that laughter is both infectious and delightful. That is the target audience that I write for and, the goal is the giggle. There is nothing more fun than the smile and laugh of a kid.”

Laura A. De La Cruz is a Mexican-American writer from Los Angeles, who grew up listening to family stories full of imagination with maybe a sprinkling of exaggeration. After years of working as a software engineer  and then being laid off, Laura reinvented herself and began teaching Spanish at the local preschool where her youngest attended. She then went on to teach at an elementary school as a Library Media Technician where her love for picture books was rekindled—realizing she too had stories to tell. Laura went back to school and earned a B.A. in English, graduating Summa Cum Laude. With determination and her endless love for learning, Laura pressed on and in June of 2021 was selected runner up in the #PBCHAT mentorship program where she became the mentee of Tara Lazar. Laura continues to write, revise, and improve her craft with hopes of one day getting her stories out into the world.

Laura says, “Sharing my love for children’s literature was the best thing about working in a school library and what got me thinking about writing down my own stories. Reading to my students and watching their faces, fill with hope, wonder, and laughter while being whisked away (at least for a moment) demonstrated to me the amazing power of stories. These are the kinds of stories I hope to write—stories that fill children with hope and inspiration.”

When MeiLin Chan left her childhood home in Hong Kong and moved to Northern California with her family before the 7th grade, not only did she discover a new country but also the wonder of books. Having never heard spoken English before her arrival, she learned American English by reading Middle Grade novels with a dictionary upon discovering the existence of libraries. Her high school essays led her to scholarships to attend the University of California at Berkeley where she loved studying Child and Neuropsychology and Marketing and Entrepreneurship in business school. Having no idea what she wanted to do when she grew up, she tried out different careers: installing text-messaging software for wireless carriers in the Caribbean, casting magic spells with Excel and statistics software in educational technologies research at M.I.T., running her own commercial real estate brokerage that helped businesses locate and negotiate leases for retail spaces, creating her own soap-making studio to produce and market novelty soaps that resembled smartphones, the Periodic Table, or sushi, and translating technical information into everyday language as a technical writer. She was writing adult thriller manuscripts when her daughter led her to picture books. The interplay between the illustrations and text and the possibilities to play with language have hooked her since.

MeiLin says, “Transitioning from writing thrillers, it was refreshing to get to be silly but also reflective and lyrical. As an immigrant child and a mom to biracial children, my stories highlight childhoods that celebrate multiple cultures and topics that are less noticed. Leveraging my background in technology and love for science, I also hope to transfer my skills in translating technical information into everyday language for the child audience to expose them to topics in Artificial Intelligence and other sciences in a fun engaging way.”

Sope Martins was born in Lagos and raised in London. As a child with one foot in each world, she found her centre in the library, where she began a love affair with books. Sope has been a baker, a radio broadcaster, and worked in advertising and television, but the one thing that has remained constant is her love for books. Finding herself back in the library was inevitable – the only surprise was rather than reading, she had started writing!

Sope has worked with various African initiatives to create free picture books for children across Africa and the wider world. She is a member of SCBWI, and a 2021 WNDB mentee. As a writer, she is constantly looking to stretch her wings by working across different age ranges and genres.

Sope says, “As a reader, the stories that glow in my memory are those I read in my childhood, where magic dusted the mundane. As a writer, my hope is to craft those magical stories that bring my country and culture alive in the minds of the children that read them. I want my readers to step into a world where stories are not just stories, but songs, and histories, where hundreds of tribes and ethnicities mingle, where names mean everything, and everyone is four degrees of separation away from being related to you.”

Congratulations to this talented group of writers, and WELCOME to 12 x 12!

We’d love to welcome you to 12 x 12 in 2022, too! General registration will be open from January 14 – February 28, 2022.

Returning members, look for registration information in your inbox staring January 11th.

Happy New Year!